Therapy
by gwynhwyfar llewelyn
Summary: UPDATED! Ash and co pay the Waterflower household a visit after 3 years of journeying and Misty is all but pleased about this. What has changed during those years that made her life worse? Can she let Ash back in?
1. Opening Up

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 1 – Opening Up

Misty clasped her hands together in anticipation and anxiety. She reached up absent mindedly and began to fiddle around with her spiky bangs that always seemed to come to rest right over her eyes. She sighed and let herself slide down further onto the comfy leather couch. It felt like she had been waiting for hours. Still playing with her hair, she glanced up at the clock. A quarter past three it read, already fifteen minutes had been wasted on waiting. She slid even further down the couch, now exasperated at how bored she was becoming. It was a mistake to come here in the first place. She hated everything about it. Suddenly, she heard the door creak open and the previous client stepped out and laughed loudly at some kind of stupid joke that had been made in attempt to cover up the unwelcoming atmosphere. Sighing for the last time, she propped herself up onto her elbows, gathered her thoughts and things, and pushed herself onto her feet.

"Misty?"

She turned around and smiled a fake but faint smile towards the voice. "Hello."

The lady smiled. "I'm so sorry for the delay, please make yourself comfortable and  
I'll be right in. I need to visit the little girl's room!" She then brushed past Misty, who scrunched her face in disgust at the thought of a therapist referring to a bathroom as "the little girl's room".

She made her way into the room, taking in the surroundings and the scent of the cramped room that had obviously been hastily put together to make it appear as though it were a real room. It smelled like a cross between a hospital and mothballs. The stench made Misty shudder as she sat down, attempting to not take in as much oxygen as possible throughout the session until it was possible to breathe in purer air.

"Hello again Misty, I hope your week is going well?" The therapist made her way into her room, closed the door quietly and moved towards a file cabinet to collect her notebook.

Misty frowned. "It's been the same as usual. Pointless and annoying. The same damn thing everyday."

The shrink furrowed her brows and began scribbling on the notebook while trying to look interested in what her client meant. "Would you like to talk about it?"

Misty smirked and tried not to laugh. "Well, that's what I'm here for, isn't it?" she replied sarcastically. "It's the same damn things I've been talking to you about for the past few weeks, every single time I meet with you, so either you aren't paying attention or you really don't give a shit what I'm talking about." She slumped back into her seat while looking the woman straight in the eyes.

The therapist looked at Misty over her glasses with a look of exasperation and began to scrawl down things again on her notebook. There was an uncomfortable silence between them. Finally, the lady spoke in a harsh tone.

"Look Misty, if you think that I'm not helping you then why bother coming here in the first place? You obviously don't want help and apparently you aren't taking any of my suggestions into consideration, so why waste the money?"

"To be honest, I don't even know. It is a waste of time and money to come here when I don't want help. But my sisters insisted on it, because I have 'like major issues' that I should talk to someone about. Evidently, not them. They don't need to be bothered by my problems when they have their own crises in their lives, like breaking a nail, or getting too fat for a photo shoot. Yea, I guess that's why I came. I guess I thought bitching out my problems to a woman I barely know might help me." Misty sat back and smiled sweetly.

Now it was the therapist's turn to sigh. "Look, Misty, I do want to help you to feel better about your life but I can't do anything if you won't listen! You need to try the things I ask of you to do, but if you really think that even that isn't going to help you, then maybe we should take a break for awhile. How's that sound to you?"

"Sounds fine to me." She got up from the couch, collected her things, and walked as fast as she could without even looking back. Once she reached her car, she stopped to breathe. She felt like crying, but what a waste of time it would be to do that now. It wasn't safe to cry and drive anyway. 'Save it for later' she thought to herself. "Just get your ass home to the gym where there's probably some kid waiting for challenge you. Yea, that'll take things off my mind for awhile. A good gym battle to beat the hell out of some cocky kid's ego." She smiled to herself and started the engine, backed out, and began driving home.

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Misty screeched out of that parking lot and drove onto the road like a crazy woman. She turned on some music and blasted it so that she could focus her thoughts on something else. Noticing the small droplets of water appearing on her windshield, she smiled for the first time and hastily rolled down her window, then let her arm hang out the window whilst letting the wind enter twine between her fingers. She opened up her palm and felt the rain drops pelting into her skin like small knives. Anybody else might think that she was crazy, but this was something that she and had sisters had started long ago when Daisy had gotten her drivers license first out of the tree triplets. They would blast the heat in the car and roll down the windows on frigid days, getting the best of both temperatures. It was only a faint memory now, but she had thoroughly enjoyed it at the time and now it was something she did almost absentmindedly. Humming to the music as she stopped at a red stoplight, she took a look around her. Even though it was raining, she still would have preferred to walk and enjoy the beautiful autumn foliage, but the drive to the therapist's was too far away. Damn, she had gotten the therapist on her mind which was not exactly was she was attempting to do.

"Who does she think she is to tell me what to do? She's not my guardian, and even if I was, I wouldn't listen to her anyway" She stated out loud with a grunt. "How similar they are in the fact that neither of them would care about me anyway." Her mood darkened. She didn't want to go home. She hated being home. Her attitude had changed so much in the past few years and amazingly her sisters took notice, probably because she acted so pessimistic all the time. She sighed for about the hundredth time that day and slowly came to a stop as she pulled into the driveway on the side of the gym. As she got out, she looked up at the tall, circular building. She had been proud of herself for going through with her idea to change the paint colors from neon to a nice, soothing aqua outlined in black and grey. Her sisters had complained and whined about the gym looking so dark and dreary, but Misty said that the old colors made the gym look like some kind of clown carousel complete with a huge Seal on the front for children to ride on. That shut them up.

"Now it has the colors of the sea," she said smiling at the thought of being near the ocean. It had been about 6 months since she last was able to take a small break from being the Cerulean Gym Leader and go down to the Orange Islands to relax. She placed the key in the lock and prepared to be bombarded with questions from her sister, such as—

"Misty! Like, why are you home so early? I thought you sessions were for an hour!" The tone in Violet's voice didn't sound concerned at all, but rather uncomfortable and hasty. Misty rolled her eyes and walked over to Violet.

"It ended early. I had no need to waste my precious time with a woman who doesn't know her shit."

"So, like, you ended it early, not her. You know, we're paying for this out of the kindness of our hearts and the money we make so that you can get like better!"

Misty glared at her. "Shut it Violet. You only want me to get better so people don't talk about us behind our backs and your reputation doesn't become tarnished. Like you give a crap anyway, darling. Now run off, I think I hear a male fan calling you!"

Violet sneered at her and then oddly backed off smiling cunningly to herself. Now that was weird. She shrugged it off. She had seen her sisters act stranger. She was about to go into the kitchen for a drink when Lily appeared out of nowhere and placed her hands around Misty's eyes, while she felt another pair grab her arms and placed them behind her back. Frustrated and angry, she began a tirade of profanities and struggled to get her insane sisters off of her.

"Misty, like, stop moving around so much! We have a surprise for you!" Lily said happily.

"I suppose it involves tying and gagging me then throwing me into a ditch?"

"We wish" muttered Violet.

"I heard that!"

"Don't over react lil' sis, we just want to show you something that we know you'll love!" Misty grunted again and felt herself being maneuvered into the hallway, past the front door and into the living room. They all then stopped and she felt her hands being released at the same time she heard Daisy and Violet's shuffled footsteps and suppressed giggles.

Misty was quite annoyed as she didn't like surprises. She had been surprised before by her sisters and the end result was always her feeling humiliated and stupid for falling for a trick of theirs.

"Lily, get the hell off me, I need to go do some chores that I _know_ you won't do for the gym, so let's hurry up with this please!!!"

Lily laughed happily and prepared to let her hands loose. As she did she yelled, "TA DA!"

Misty prepared for the worse. She opened her eyes slowly and they widened at the site that was in front of her. Her mouth dropped at least two inches in shock and she heard herself gasp.

Four familiar faces stared back at her as she scanned the room. Four faces that she hadn't seen in three years. Four faces she had tried to forget, especially that one face she felt her eyes come to rest upon.

He smiled at her. "Surprise, Misty!"

"SURPRISE!!!" chimed in Brock, Gary, Tracey and May cheerfully. Misty was oblivious to their speaking. She just stood there, her eyes glued to the face of Ash Ketchum. She felt some repressed emotions stirring up inside of her, reaching her brain in the quickest of fashions. Her immediate response should have been an eager one, pleased at the fact that her closest friends now sat in her living room. But they were just the opposite. She began to feel angry.

"A-a-Ash…" she stated bluntly. She couldn't stop staring at his eyes, those eyes she hadn't seen in three years. Why was he here? Wasn't he supposed to be in Hoenn? Confused, she tore her eyes away from him. She felt everyone's eyes looking at her, still grinning at the fact that their little scheme had worked. She gave a weak smile to the rest of the gang, turned around as fast as she could, grabbed her keys from the table and ran out the door remembering to slam it shut.

After getting into her car, she felt herself breathing extremely fast. What the hell had she just done?! No time to think about that now, she could hear the front door opening as the sound of voices grew closer. Putting the car in reverse, she sped down the driveway as fast as she could, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible not knowing she was doing or where exactly she planned on going. She looked into her rear view mirror and saw seven very confused faces. Her eyes made contact with his. He looked concerned and baffled at the same time. She scoffed at the possibly of that, and broke their contact as she drove away. She now had an idea of where she wanted to go as she pressed down harder onto the gas and sped away.

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A million and one thoughts raced through her head as she raced through the streets. What had she just done? Why had she run away like that? Why was Ash there? Why had her sisters tricked her again? They _knew_ she didn't want to see them, she had specifically told them not to invite them over at any time. She felt so stupid for just running away like that. She ran away from all her problems. She felt like she could never talk to anyone about her problems, ever since she was little. Nobody understood or cared. Her sisters still didn't understand or care. They just couldn't comprehend the fact that she had issues and wasn't perfect at just about everything like them. There was nobody to talk to.

Except…

No. She couldn't go back. Her conscious offered advice that she vainly tried to ignore.

"Perhaps your therapist is listening to you. I think the problem is that you aren't listening to her because you don't want to hear her offer good advice. You just want to sit and wallow away in self pity."

Misty groaned in response to her thoughts. Her conscious was right; she needed to get so many things off her chest, off her mind, things that had been there for years. She noticed it was still raining as she pulled into the parking lot of the office she had been to about 15 minutes prior. She felt very stupid as she climbed out of the car and made her way back into the office and sat oddly in the same comfy couch. The door was closed so she figured somebody else was in session. How wrong she was. Instead, her therapist popped her head out of another room and called out to a much surprised Misty. She therapist also looked surprised.

"Misty? Why are you back here?" she cocked her head and studied the girl quietly.

"I… need to get some things of my mind… and… well… I figured you were the best person to do it with… and… I wanted to apologize… about—"

"Misty, you don't have to apologize!" said the woman, laughing. "Do you know how many people I work with who are ten times worse than yourself? You have to be one of the most amiable girls I work with!"

Misty was stunned. "But… I've acted really rudely to you…"

The woman interrupted. "But you are still one of the nicest" she repeated. "Now come on, I have a little bit of time before my next appointment. Let's talk!"

Misty followed her silently into the run, sat herself back down on the cold leather couch. She shifted slightly as she began to feel uncomfortable yet again. She reached up again and played with her bangs nervously. Where should she start? Racking her brain for the right words, she finally settled on three.

"He came back" she said simply.

"Who came back?"

"Ash."

"You've never mentioned him before at previous sessions—"

"That's because I've been trying to block him out of my life" Misty said, interrupting. "I… I used to like him when I was younger. We traveled together for a long, long time, but we parted three years ago when I became the leader of the Cerulean Gym."

"And why have you been blocking him out, Misty?"

Misty made eye contact with the woman and smiled sadly.

"Boys don't mature quickly enough… they don't understand feelings the way girls do… and it's frustrating. They're forgetful, like him. They overlook things and people. In this case, me. And I won't forgive him for that, even if he doesn't recognize it." She looked out the window and stared hard into the forest.

"So, you're saying he forgot about you when you parted ways?"

Misty nodded. "It's like he completely wrote me out of his life. He was too preoccupied with other things. I thought our friendship was special and that even though we were apart we would still be in contact. It was about that time when I started feeling so alone and emotionally unstable. Like the way I used to feel before I met him when my sisters constantly teased me and humiliated me. I just feel so alone… and if he had stayed in touch with me this wouldn't have happened," she finished both bitterly and sadly.

"So… you blame your current unhappiness on Ash" said the therapist.

Misty looked blankly at her. "There are a number of reasons, obviously, but he happens to be a main factor in it." She looked out the window again, deep in thought.

"Misty… I hate to say this, but my next appointment will be starting in about 5 minutes… could we continue this conversation another day?" the woman cut in.

Misty looked up and smiled slightly. Nodding her head, she listened as the therapist told her to remember to listen to what would be going on over the next few days so that she could share it with her. Misty really didn't know where she was going, but somehow her legs directed her towards her car and she sat down in the seat. She sat there for awhile, thinking about what she was going to say to them when she got home. She tried to think of excuses to use as she attempted to explain her unexpected behavior. She wondered what her sisters had told them. Probably the truth, they didn't give a shit if her acquaintances thought she was crazy.

She started feeling anxious. Why couldn't she act normal? She had to stop running away from her problems, and she was going to try and stop now. It was all she could do.


	2. Making Excuses

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 2 – Making Excuses

At the next green light she managed to miss, she said a quick thank you out loud to nobody in particular whilst strumming her fingers on the armrest near the window. Feeling slightly nauseous, she looked down at her other hand presently resting on her leg and noticed that she was actually shaking quite visibly. Attempting to stop the shaking with the other hand on the armrest, she found that it was of no use to try and calm her self down once she began to feel nervous. A honk from the car behind her brought her shifted mindset back into reality as she put her foot down on the gas hard to avoid the swearing and finger gestures she was accustomed to by the impatient drivers in Cerulean city. She needed to think about what she was going to do once she returned home, and the place for thinking was obviously not in a car on a busy highway. But… she was tired of running and maybe she could just ad lib was she was going to say to everyone. Or maybe she could just avoid them for however long they planned on staying! No, that was a stupid idea. She didn't even know why she had run away from them in the first place and it was paining her to think about the consequences of her action. Her sisters would be angry, the gang would be confused, and Ash… well she didn't know what Ash would think. When they were younger, he would have probably just stared stupidly at her as she ran off and then his mindset would have changed to 'I'm hungry' as he looked for food. She believed that he probably hadn't matured much during his journeys, for on those few times she had met up with him, he seemed the same mentally. She would find out in due time.

Pulling up once again to the driveway to the house, she sighed and rubbed her temples gently, racking her brain for excuses to answers their concerns and questions.

'Déjà vu,' she thought as she climbed up the stairs to the main entrance of her home and gym.

Still shaking slightly, she put the key into the lock and pushed it open as silently as she could, as it had a tendency to stick and creek very loudly. To her relief, she saw that the hallway was empty, but her ears detected the slightest trace of murmur's permeating throughout the house to where she stood. The whispers came to a halt, and she knew that they all knew that she was home. She reached down to untie her clunky, thick shoes, she sighed as quietly as she could before making her way nervously down the hall towards the living room. Stopping just before the entrance, she plastered a fake smile onto her pale face and stepped in to greet her visitors the best she could.

"Hey guys! Sorry about earlier, I forgot that I hadn't given the doctor my check for the visit so I had to go back before she missed it and called me about it…" she finished lamely after babbling an awful excuse.

The eight people in front of her exchanged glances. Four of those faces looked relieved at her excuse and the other four still looked slightly perturbed. Wait a minute. Eight faces. She looked at the new face next to her Daisy and smiled.

"Tracey!" she said with a genuine smile on her face, "What are you doing here? You said you wouldn't be back in Cerulean for a long time!"

Tracey grinned back at her, relieved at the fact that her comment had broken the tension ever so slightly in the room.

"That's what I thought too but, I persuaded Professor Oak that he needed some time off. He won't be back for at least a month, so I decided to pay a visit to Daisy and you all while I took some time off too!"

Misty looked over at Daisy as she took a seat next to Tracey. "And you didn't tell me anything about this because…?"

Daisy laughed. "Oh come on Misty, it was part of the surprise for you! Tracey had been in touch with Ash, Brock, May, and Gary after they decided to take a break for awhile after coming back from Hoenn, so Violet, Lily, and I thought it would be like awesome for all of us to have a sort of reunion for you! Think of it as an early birthday present and you can pay us back later!"

"Right…" said Misty glancing over at Brock and Ash. "So anyways, how long are you guys going to be in town?"

"As long as you'll you feel like hosting us I guess! Which hopefully translates to awhile, we're pretty beat and in need of a good surrogate home and family!" Brock replied.

"You all can stay as long as you'd like to" said Violet smiling back at Brock with a playful glint on her eye. Brock looked slightly baffled, but then grinned back at her.

Daisy suddenly cleared her throat. "Well kiddos, Tracey and I are going out to an early dinner soon and I need to like, get ready so, Misty, why don't you show them their rooms? I doubt they've actually seen any of the living quarters in the gym, it will be like aw awesome tour!"

Misty fumbled around with her words before spitting them out awkwardly. "Sure… follow me upstairs to the rooms you guys…"

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The gym was set up in a format so that one half of the circular gym provided space and room for the gym necessities and the other half served as the actual home in which the leaders lived in. The first floored consisted of a kitchen, living, dining, family, and laundry rooms, all irregularly shaped due to the shape of the gym but still comfortable nonetheless. The other half of the gym contained numerous waiting rooms in which trainers would enter through in order to get to the actual battling arena. The upstairs living half had the girls' four separate and different looking bedrooms and had five other bedrooms that provided rest for relatives or friends. The gym half had eight different private offices and quarters for those who requested it whenever there happened to be a gym battle or Sensational Sister event occurring. Misty made sure she pointed this out just in case anyone happened to get lost… which could definitely happen often when Ash was in presence. She led them through the long hallway that contained the bedrooms on the left side while on the right there were many long windows that provided a wonderful view of the outside. The glass was shaded so that people inside could look outside, but people on the outside could not look in.

"For security purposes" Misty pointed out almost in a dazed, monotonous tone. She really wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. Her thoughts were on other things.

"Hey Misty, sorry to change the subject from the wonderful windows you got here, but are Tracey and Daisy… together?" Brock inquired innocently.

Misty stopped and regained full consciousness of her surroundings. She turned around to smirk at Brock's "innocent" inquiry.

"Yes Brock, they are. So you can't go lusting after her now buddy boy, she's taken and loving it."

Brock's face face-vaulted slightly, before regaining composure thanks to a quick, hard nudge from Gary.

"Since when?" Gary asked.

"For about nine months… he had been coming over here a lot to help us out since Violet and Lily wouldn't do much… at first Daisy thought it was me he liked but later on he confessed to me that he really admired her and wanted to know if he should ask her out. That's about it" Misty said, babbling yet again. "To tell you the truth, I haven't seen Daisy this happy in awhile. I think Tracey has settled her down a bit. She's not as guy crazy as she used to be. Now if only we could find some guys for Violet and Lily…" Misty looked in the direction of Brock and smiling cunningly. He looked at her innocently and she emitted some quiet laughter. Laughter. She hadn't done that in a long time. She was beginning to think that their stay here wouldn't be so bad after all. But only if she was successful in avoiding Ash.

"Can we see your room Misty?" Brock said, breaking the awkward silence after her laughter her quieted. Misty raised her eyebrow, and shot him a look of curiosity. Realizing just how odd his question had come out, he backtracked his words and quickly mended them.

"Er… I didn't mean it in _that_ way… crap… I just meant could we look at them in a non-sexual related way? We've never seen this part of your house before…" Brock finished somewhat quickly. Misty smiled. "Of course, but if I catch you going through any pantry drawers I'll kick you so hard…"

"Okay okay, I'll behave as best a can!" He smiled deviously.

They walked a bit further down the hall past all the guestrooms until finally they reached the first of the girls' rooms. Each room was similar in size and shape, but the colors and furnishings were completely different as were the four sisters that lived in each. Daisy's room was reminiscent of a summer day, complete with yellows and oranges and warm colors to make the room even more inviting. Violets room was just the opposite. Her colors stirred the senses into feeling like one was walking into a winter's eve. Shades of deep royal blue and subtle, pale sky blue filled the room, blurring into a mass of beauty. Lily's room looked as if was a photograph taken on the dawn of the first spring morning. Filled mostly with contrasting soft and dark pinks and reds, it filled the mind with pleasure. The last room, of course, belonged to Misty. Her sanctuary when she needed it most during her darkest of days, when she was lost deep in thought. However, the paint and general makeup of the room consisted of mainly warm colors. Oranges, yellows, and reds were plastered all over the wall that gave the illusion of a perfectly serene autumnal day.

Misty turned around to find all the boys staring at her room with their mouths hanging open. This really wasn't the response she was expecting. Slowly, words began to form out of Gary's mouth. "All your rooms look like they resemble…"

"The four seasons?" Misty cut in. "Yea, someone once remarked that we four kind of personified the seasons so we decided to paint the rooms according to what the person had dubbed us. Daisy was summer, Violet was winter, Lily was spring, and I was fall. Kind of silly, but I think it's fitting of our personalities as well."

Misty noticed the clock on her wall. _"Shit!"_ she thought to herself. She had things to get done in the gym so that it would be ready for battles and she was running late.

"Hey guys, you can escort yourself downstairs, I gotta get some things done in case somebody drops by for a match… just don't touch anything!" she yelled as she quickly exited the room. Sighing to herself, she hurried down the stairs, skipping a few at a time until she reached the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. She knew that the chores could wait just a little bit while she collected her thoughts. Things hadn't gone too badly, in fact, Ash had scarcely said a word the whole time he had been there, nor had she attempted to make eye contact with him. Maybe she had just been talking too fast and he hadn't been able to get a word in. Oh well, she didn't really want to hear his voice anyway. After all, he _was_ responsible for the way she had felt over the past three years and she wasn't ready to really talk to him anyway. She felt that she had nothing to say to him since he should already know what the problem was.

"Misty?"

She jumped in surprise and her heart skipped a few beats after recognizing to whom the voice belonged to.

_Ash._

She turned around slowly and finally allowed her eyes to look into his. How she missed those eyes. Chocolate brown she had decided was how they were colored very long ago when they had first met. She felt herself melting into them many times when they shared more happy moments under better circumstances. Before saying anything back to the boy, she took in all of him she could. He had grown considerably taller during their time apart. He had always been shorter than her even though he was older, but she figured that was only because he hadn't had his growth spurt yet. She figured he was about 6'0, a mere three inches taller than her, but it still looked as if he were towering over her. Although he wore a loose fitting tee shirt, it gathered in all the right places to accentuate his angular build. His arms looked slightly toned as well as his legs, that weren't so thin and bird like anymore. His shorts reached just below the knees. She was thankful both of them had grown out of their mid-90's dressing stage. Neither of them had the sense to even go out and buy something proper. Times had changed for the better. His hair was still spiky and a deep, rich black but the hat was gone. She always preferred him without that damn cap, and was glad to be rid of it.

"_Enough"_ she thought. _"Stop checking him out and say something, you stupid girl!"_

She gulped before saying a soft "Yes? I'm in a hurry, so whatever you have to say, say it fast!" Now for some reason she felt herself becoming impatient.

He looked down at his feet quickly, seemingly to gather up his courage. She thought that sometimes he was afraid of her since her temper could get pretty bad in certain situations. Finally, he spoke while twisting his hands together.

"Are you… avoiding speaking to me?" He looked at her from across the room with pleading eyes.

"_Don't do this to me, Ash. You know perfectly well what you did, and if you don't, I'm not going to be the one to tell you."_

She couldn't say that. Instead she lied. She was good at doing that now in days.

"Of course not Ash… I was just really surprised to see you all at my house. To be honest, I didn't think you'd even consider coming to visit me" she admitted almost bitterly. He didn't seem to detect the tone of her lowered voice.

He looked surprised. "Of course I would want to see you Misty! We haven't spoken in such a long time… and I've missed talking to you even though half the time we were fighting" he said smiling lopsidedly. Now it was her turn to be surprised.

"You… missed talking to me? Then how come you never wrote or called me? I guess that would have taken up too much of your precious training time. You make so much sense to me Ash."

Ash's eyebrows began to furrow into his trademark look.

"Misty, I couldn't call or write! Most of the time we were out training in the wilderness, you know that. How often did we ever make it to a city? And if we did, we just wanted to rest, not call or write! I'm not going to make excuses for why I didn't try to contact you!"

"I wouldn't have wanted to listen to those excuses anyway, Ash." Misty said angrily.

"Actually, I wouldn't have listened to them or put up with them. It's always the same with you and your one track mind, always on winning, winning, winning! Admit it Ash, you probably did forget about me or to even consider contacting me. You know how I felt? No, you wouldn't, because you can be a selfish and stupid boy. You haven't matured at all Ash, and I'm beginning to think that you never will."

Ash looked at her, dumbfounded, trying to put words together to create sentences in order to fire a comeback at her. Before he could, however, she quickly turned on her heel and muttered something about cleaning up the pool and to leave her alone.

He pulled up a chair from the table, and put his head in his hands. He knew that she had changed physically, but mentally? Where was the happy, spunky, adventurous girl he knew? He sat in silence, until he heard the footsteps of Gary and Brock making their way into the room to check up on Ash after hearing the familiar sound of raised voices. He looked at them, and they looked back and then looked over into the doorway of which Misty had vanished. What was happening to Misty Waterflower?


	3. Explaining

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 3 - Explaining

Ash released his hands from his head and balled them up into fists. He felt hurt, angry, and confused. He really had never felt this many emotions before, especially over a girl. But this was Misty; she had always been complex to him, but complex in a different way. How she was acting and reacting now scared him slightly. He looked up at his two friends.

"You know, I thought it was gonna be great to relax and come to see Misty… but I had this weird feeling in my stomach the moment I saw her, and I'm not really sure what it was…"

Gary smirked and was about to say something when Brock cut him off.

"You know Misty, Ash. She's always been kind of headstrong, maybe she's just getting used to the idea of seeing all of us at one time. And besides, we don't know the whole story behind her behavior. Give her so time, I'm sure she'll cool of… well, sort of…" he said smirking slightly.

"I think it was a bad idea to come here. Misty and I always somehow seem to get into fights over nothing and I'm sure you've had enough of them, as have I, but she really gets me going sometimes…"

"And you get her going too, Ash. You're both not perfect. Let her cool down for a little, then go talk to her rationally. And don't get impatient! Then you guys will get nowhere."

"I don't get impatient—she's the one who gets impatient…!"

Brock and Gary put their hands over their ears and started singing horribly to try and get Ash to stop talking nonsense. Ash pretended to look offended then smiled.

"Where did May go? She was with us earlier?" Ash inquired somewhat offhandedly.

"She said something about staying in her room for awhile to call her family and let them know she got here fine. I'm also guessing Daisy and Tracey left to go out… but I wonder where Violet and Lily went…" Gary glanced over at Brock with a playful glint prominent in his eyes. Before Ash could even get a word in, the two older boys had raced out of the room into the hall in search of the two other triplets.

This left time for Ash to ponder alone. He was glad for it since he never really had anytime to think, much less act on his thoughts. He wasn't just glad about getting to see Misty, he had been elated to find out that he would be surprising her with a visit. When she walked into the room, his could feel his pulse begin to race. She looked the same, yet different. She had obviously grown taller; he knew she would. She had always been a scrawny thing, and in a way she still was, except now her hips were just slightly curved and she now had somewhat of a chest, even it if was small. Her hairstyle still sported those spiky bangs that draped over her eyes, but instead of a childish side ponytail, her hair was now pulled into a low ponytail on the nape of her neck, that cascaded out into soft waves and curls. Her fashion sense had improved was well even though he had no qualms about her previous attire. It was just as bad as his. She wore a long sleeved black shirt complete with skinny leg blue jeans. He did wonder why she was so covered up though. Even though it was October, the day had been generally warm, complete with a damp drizzle.

He shrugged off the thought and directed them towards her odd behavior since their meeting. The first thing he noticed even before he heard her speak was her eyes. They were still a refreshing blue, but somehow they looked tired and dull. Her body looked fragile and he was sure that her mind was too. But why? He wanted to ask her about it, but he was sure that she would refuse to answer. She was stubborn and usually lied about when she was in pain, whether it was physical or mental. He made up his mind to talk to her whether or not she wanted him to. Moving towards the door from his seat, he took in a few breaths and paced himself for the probable fight that might occur.

Misty mentally punched herself. She mentally punched herself hard. She was such an idiot, why didn't she always have to screw up things? Ash asked an innocent question, and she let her hotheadedness completely take over. Of course she was avoiding talking to him. She didn't want to talk to him… but she didn't want to talk to him. Her life was full of paradoxes. She was a walking contradiction. She shook her head and cleared her thoughts. She was ready to just zone out for awhile and forget about life. Slowly she reached the edge of the pool and stood there, taking in its beauty. She wished that she could be as serene as a peaceful pool, but unfortunately she had inherited a temper which sometimes she was proud of, but mostly was not. It reminded her of the past too much and it was painful to think about. Tearing her eyes away from the water, she went in search of the scrubbing tools Tracey always seemed to misplace.

"While he's making out with Daisy" she sarcastically muttered to herself.

Rolling up her sleeves, she prepared to dive into a mass of unorganized cleaning products that were placed not very neatly in a cardboard box. The hairs on her back began to tingle and stick up, as if a cold wind had just blown by, but for her, it meant something else. She heard some shuffling footsteps coming close to where she had her back turned. Looking up and behind, she saw Ash. Furrowing her brows, she was slightly angry that he had followed her even after she thought she had made it clear in her speech that she wanted to be left alone. "Boys," she thought, "don't get anything."

The look on his face showed apprehension mixed with concern and irritation. She tried to say something but he had thought faster.

"Misty, before you cut me off, I just wanted to apologize. I know I should have called or something but it really did slip my mind. Honestly, did you even think about contacting me either?"

'Every damn day, you idiot' she thought.

"I mean… I'm sure you were and still are really busy with running the gym and stuff" he continued on.

"Ash, I'm just really not in the mood to talk to anyone right now, alright? So can you just leave? That'd be great."

He looked surprised. "But, I wanted to talk to you!" he spluttered.

"Ash, I don't want to talk—"

"Don't get defensive, Misty."

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The last part she had actually screamed quite shrilly. The echo of her words stung at her eardrums as they bounced of the large gymnasium walls. She stared straight at him, attempting as hard as she could not to break down into tears. She was shaking again, very hard and obviously visible to him, as he eyed her arms a few times before he backed away and left her alone.

She was alone again. Why did she always tell people she wanted to be left alone when in fact she didn't want to be alone at all? She craved attention, but pushed it away at the same time if somebody took notice of her pain. Here came the contradictions again. She was so confused and annoyed. She felt a tingling sensation running across her lower left forearm. It was an itching feeling. She shook at to get rid of the feeling but she knew it would not go away. Flexing her fingers, she began to head off towards her room, breaking into a brisk run, her fingers skimming the wooden banister as she leaped up the stairs into the sanctuary of her room. Groping around blindly in the dark, she switched on the lights and found her way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her quietly. She looked into the mirror and saw tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. Closing them tightly, she felt a sharp pain coming from her left forearm and she sucked in her breath tightly. She needed pain, and was glad to acknowledge it. She heard a small clank upon the porcelain surface of the sink. Her tears were now not the only dripping substances being emitted from her body.

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Ash had drifted off to sleep while watching the latest Pokemon matches being aired from Indigo Plateau. Brock, Gary, and May were also there, half dozing off themselves. A slam from the front door brought them back to the real world. Except Ash, who somehow managed to sleep through the elements themselves. The three awake managed to prop themselves up from the extremely comfy sofas and looks towards the entrance to the family room. In walked Tracey and Daisy, linked arm and arm, who both looked very flushed and giddy. Daisy reached the first available sofa and plopped down onto it, taking a very flushed Tracey with her. She looked at Brock, smiling.

"Hey kiddos, where's Vi and Lily?"

"Ehh… we were trying to convince them to go out tonight, but they said something about an early photo shoot tomorrow morning… and their need for beauty sleep" Gary explained, although he did look slightly annoyed. "I'm sure it would have been easier if Romeo here hadn't pulled the moves on Violet so quickly, it scared both of them off in disgust!"

"It did not!" Brock said, now clearly awake and disgruntled.

Gary closed his eyes ands smirked. "You need to learn that in order to gain a way into a woman's heart you need to be gentle with them first! Shower them with complements, that's the best way into a woman's—"

"Bed?" Brock asked hopefully. Gary sighed, exasperated. "I think I'm going to take you under my wing. By the end of our vacation time, you'll be a pro with girls!"

Daisy giggled. "Just act like Tracey here and you'll be fine!"

"You know, I always thought I'd have a steady girlfriend before Tracey did…" Brock muttered.

"What did you say?" Tracey said sharply. Brock smiled embarrassedly.

"Daisy, can I ask you something?" The lot of them jumped at hearing Ash's voice and realized that he had woken up and was staring wide-eyed at them.

"Of course" she said soothingly in a motherly way.

"Well, to put in bluntly, what _is_ up with Misty?"

Daisy sighed. "I hate to talk about her behind her back…"

"But I've tried asking her and she basically bit my head off, I think I can only ask you, even if it is behind her back." Ash cut in.

Looking around at the group of friends, she sighed wistfully. Her eyes turned very serious and she no longer looked tipsy and giddy.

"Misty… has been going through some tough times and I don't blame her one bit. The way we used to treat her was awful and I'm sure that's played into what's happening to her mindset nowindays. Even though I did used to tease her, I always felt the closest to her. Violet and Lily were always pairing up and had the same tastes, but at the eldest of us three, though not by much, I still felt as if I should treat her better than they did. I don't think Misty has truly ever been happy, we just didn't know what it was until recently. She started seeing a therapist a few weeks ago at our requests. Well, mostly mine, but I don't think she really cares about life sometimes. It's very difficult to watch" Daisy said while reaching up to brush off some tears. Tracey pulled her into a warm embrace.

"Misty has so much potential in life and so many talents that she tends to disregard the fact that she is a wonderful person. I just wish she could see that the way I do and the way you all do. Unfortunately, she is a stubborn girl and acts so foolishly. I think you all coming here was a good idea, even though you may think it wasn't" she said, looking directly at Ash. "She needs to be around you all and realize that she does have people who care about her" she finished. Eyes exchanged looks with each other and gave looks of anxiety and concern.

"I think we should go to bed… it's… been a long day" Daisy said after a few quiet minutes had passed. Each body slowly made its way towards the long staircase, making sure to walk silently past Misty's closed door. Ash stopped and glanced at it for a moment, as if trying to penetrate the wooden obstacle that separated her from reality and her distressing thoughts. He felt Tracey's hand grasp his forearm and pull him into the room next to hers.

"I normally sleep here, but I'll move into the room next door. You should be closer to her, just in case… well… just for the heck of it." Tracey finished oddly. Ash was too tired to care and comprehend what Tracey had just said, so he merely looked at him, smiled sadly and closed the door behind him. He was sure his night was going to be restless, but he was sure it would not be as restless as hers.

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Even through the curtain shade high above her bed, Misty could still make out the sunlight that was creeping through the small crevices. Stretching out, she emitted a small squeaking noise after she was contented with the outcome of her sleep. She was so comfortable and not an unhappy thought was crossing her mind as of this moment. She reached her hands towards the back of her bed, pulled the cord that allowed the imprisoned light to break free and shine down upon her. She loved the design of the windows, as they were on the top of the ceiling instead of on the walls, like a normal home. This way she could see the rain, snow, or sunlight. She glimpsed the time on her clock, and realized that she had slept later than previously thought. She basically fell out of her bed whilst attempting to put the clock back up on her dresser and frantically searched her drawers for clothing.

"11:30?! Shit! Gym opens at 1, gotta get ready now… ugh! You stupid idiot, why didn't you set your alarm?" she yelled, bashing herself mentally. Running around the room, she dressed herself quickly, applied a small amount of mascara to her eyes, and pulled her hair back into that familiar low ponytail. Her arm felt itchy from last night's events, but she resisted the urge to pick at it while she walked downstairs. She heard much clanking and clattering going on in the kitchen, and the muffled noise of unforgettable voices. Walking into the kitchen, she saw everyone was happily eating at their large table, although even it was cramped with the number of guests. Daisy looked up and smiled warmly.

"Morning Misty, sleep well?"

"Yea, I guess so." She looked around for an empty chair to sit at and saw that the only vacant seat was next to Ash. Boldly going over to sit next to him, he looked quite surprised that she hadn't tried to avoid him, but right now other things were on her mind, like getting ready to battle obnoxious wannabe children who were overly hopeful in their dreams of becoming the Pokemon Master. She looked over at Violet and Lily, whom she was surprised to see, who were both talking in hushed voices to Brock and Gary. Lily was attempting, very poorly, to suppress a giggle at something Gary had just whispered to her. She rolled her eyes and saw that May had done the same. She smiled sweetly at Misty who returned it almost forcefully. Moving her eyes from the younger girl, she reached for some juice and gulped it down gladly. Her throat was very dry, she suspected from all the crying she had done the night before. She wondered how many people would show up today to fight her…

"Hey Misty, Daisy said that the gym opens at one for matches! Do you think that I could watch some of them?" May asked.

"Sure, if anyone comes, Tuesdays are usually pretty slow for some reason."

"Great! We heard in Hoenn what a great leader you've become, a lot of kids we ran into said they were headed your way to fight you. Apparently the gym has become a lot tougher since you took charge." Misty heard a few annoyed coughs in the background from Violet and Lily, but she ignored them and smiled brightly.

"Thanks, but I'm not that great. There are still so many things I could be better at and sometimes I don't think I'll ever get there…" she said drifting off. Daisy eyed Ash with a worried look on her face, who took a notice to it. He was about to say something when the sound of a cell phone broke into the conversation.

"Oh, that's mine! Vi, can you grab it for me?" Violet gave her a look that said 'why can't you get it?' but she did anyway. She tossed the phone to her and Misty caught it before it hit her in the head. Sticking her tongue out at her, she answered the phone, and stuck a finger in her other ear to block out the chatter that had struck back up again.

"Hey sweetie, it's me! I have a surprise for you! One of my trainee's is going to be taking over my gym duties here temporarily, so I can come and visit you for a little bit! Isn't that great? Now we won't have to wait another month to see each other!"

She glanced around the room, making sure nobody was eyeing her before she answered back.

"Rudy… I don't know if this is the best time for you to come up actually, we have a lot of company that just came in from Hoenn, and it would be kind of hard for me to balance both…" she spoke as quietly as she could so that her conversation was not heard, although she did notice Ash's head had turned to the side as if he were trying to listen in.

"Misty," he said with a slightly irritated tone, "I had to pull a few rules here to let the head of the Orange League to let me leave my post here, do you know that? You are so ungrateful sometimes for all the things I've done for you, what a wonderful way to repay me."

"I am NOT ungrateful…" she said a little too loudly. Ash abruptly turned to look at her straight in the eyes. Feeling uneasy, she shoved herself backwards and got up from her seat at the table. "I am NOT ungrateful, Rudy. It does mean a lot to me; I'm sorry. Are you coming via airplane?"

"Of course I am" he said sarcastically. "My flight arrives tonight at 7 o'clock, you better be there to pick me up."

"Yea, I will. See you then sweetie." The phone clicked off. _'Bastard'_ she thought to herself. She sighed and returned to the table, but not without a few curious glances from her friends.

"None of your business…" she muttered, her mood changing yet again. What a week this was going to be.

A/N: I'm glad I've gotten some reviews… this has kept me going, but I would like know a few more before I go on to write the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this one and thanks again!!! Kat


	4. Tension

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 4 – Tension

She knew they were probably 'discussing' her behind her back. Of course they were. She had stormed out quite unexpectedly, knocked over her chair and almost fell straight across Ash's lap as she made a beeline for the staircase. She paced around the room frantically, trying to come up with more excuses as to _why_ Rudy was coming here in the first place. Her mind was bluntly pointing out that she should just tell the truth before she got herself deeper and deeper into excuses and lies. Oh, how paranoid she was becoming lately!

"Damn you Ash, damn you!" she said bitterly. "Why did you all have to come now? When I'm like this… and… shit!!" She threw her hands up towards the ceiling in exasperation and frustration. She sat down on her bed and tried to think out things clearly.

"They do have a right to know, and what would it mean to them anyway?"

She attempted reasoning with her mind now. She thought about Ash. Would her think differently of her if she told him about Rudy and her circumstances with him? Of course not, why would he care anyway? He never had seemed to long ago… that's beside the point now. Sure, he was older and _possibly_ more mature… She tried to picture him as being jealous. How stupid, Ash probably still fails to recognize girls as belonging to the opposite sex, even at his age. Turning herself over to her stomach, she grabbed her nearest pillow and let out a muffled scream of irritation and had apparently drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

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Meanwhile, the other eight people and guests downstairs were cleaning up and retiring into the family room, as they had done only a few short hours ago. Everyone seemed to be slightly uncomfortable after Misty's hurried exit from breakfast. Daisy, acting again as the motherly figure, came in and immediately started apologizing for Misty's irritable and bizarre behavior.

"I'm so sorry. I honestly thought Misty would be slightly less unstable when you all came to visit. This isn't turning out exactly how I had planned it…"

"And now guess who else is coming. Rudy! I thought that bastard would have stopped trying to weasel his way back into her life by now…" Lily interrupted.

"They're going out?" Ash asked, looking incredulous. Daisy shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah. For awhile now actually, what has it been, almost a year? Mostly on and off stuff though, since her lives so far away. He asked her though, not vice versa. And for some odd reason, she accepted."

"It's her own damn fault for being so dependent on him in the first place. She needs to realize that guys need to be taught a lesson if they act that way with a girl…"

"Like ditching them like you two _still_ do?" Daisy said scowling at them. "Right, that's _real_ mature of you both, right?"

"It's more mature than what she's doing now. You've seen the way he treats her sometimes, and she tries to cover it up, which is _why_ we're asking her to get help in the first place. Now that's mature." Lily said smiling stupidly.

Daisy glared at them and was about to reprimand them when Ash cut in.

"How does he treat her?" he questioned quietly. Everyone leaned in closer with their eyes watching intently and nervously at Daisy, who was shifting around in her seat, searching her mind for the right thing to say in answer. Lily and Violet just rolled their eyes and went back to filing their nails.

"He can be… very rude to her, and how ironic? With his name an all, but he just gets angry very easily, and you know what can come with anger and impatience…"

"It's like having two Misty's in the same room. One of the will eventually beat and kill the other" said Violet, making an odd, dark simile. Daisy nodded her head in agreement, even to her own surprise.

"They shouldn't be together, but like I said, Misty really isn't very stable right now and instability and Rudy _don't_ match." Daisy looked over at Ash, who was sitting there very quietly and deep in thought. His face was creased with concern for his friend and she even detected that he was shaking slightly.

"He doesn't hit her… does he?" said Ash, his voice cracking slightly. Gary put an arm around him, which was shrugged off in response.

"She says he doesn't, but who knows anymore. I think she lies to us too. I've seen suspicious dark spots on her arms, but she's always making up some kind of story." Violet said.

The room was silent while its inhabitants gathered the information that was handed out to them by Daisy. Trying to make the most of the situation, small conversations between the boys and the girls broke out until finally the uneasy feeling had passed. The day and the time seemed to pass by so quickly, even though each one of them thought it would drag by slowly. No battle inquiries came for Misty and there wasn't really much to do around the house, so they sat and ate and watched the television. After all, the finals for the Indigo League were nearing and there was much anticipation and excitement to be felt. The boys' eyes were glued to the screen, and occasionally shouts of glee and sorrow erupted from their mouths, as they had decided to bet on many of the matches. May had entered into the girlish realm of the triplets and was, by the minute, becoming more and more drawn into it with every word they said. Soon a silence of eagerness from the boys and calmness from the girls fell over the room just as the sun began to set. This silence, however, was interrupted by Misty, who had cleared her throat in order to make her presence known. Everyone jumped to attention and stared at her as she began to speak. Feeling their eyes delve into her, she began to feel very perturbed and paranoid that her sisters had told them something about her while she was asleep. Furrowing hers brows, she said "Sorry to disrupt you all, but I'll be out for awhile." She took a quick glimpse over to where May was sitting with Violet and Lily.

"Be careful May. They may be nice to you at first, but then they'll turn on you so fast you won't realize what happened." In response she received two piercing, angry stares from her sisters and saw that May had scooted herself away quickly and quietly.

"Where are you going?" asked Daisy suspiciously. Misty glared at her and retorted back with a "You're not mom, Daisy." She then headed for the door to leave. Collecting her bag and car keys, she opened the door and stepped outside into the cool, balmy evening.

"Wait!" She didn't even bother to turn around. Instead, she walked faster.

"Wait, Misty, wait!" Ash said, pleading with her to stop. So she did and faced him.

"I have to be somewhere at seven. Make it quick, Ash."

"Where are you going?"

"That's none of your business" she stated and turned on her heel.

"If you're going to see him… please don't, Mist."

She stopped dead. He knew. And he had called her 'Mist'. His nickname for her from what seemed like such a long time ago. He was using it to coax her back inside, where it was safer for her to be, rather than out with an 'abusive' boyfriend.

"You know about Rudy?" she said, then smirked almost knowingly. "So you were talking about me. I was right." She stared at him with a wistful look.

"Yes we were, but not in a bad way. We were all worried about you and I asked about you and… what's going on."

"Oh, so now you're worried Ash. It's a little too late for that. You should have been worrying about me when maybe you had a chance of getting the old me back. That was too long ago now. It's been three long years Ash, and things have changed whether you like it or not."

"But you don't like it either Mist. Admit it. Why would you be enjoying life when _he's_ around? Daisy told me about what he…"

"Like I've said before Ash, my personal life is none of your business. Stop trying to be a hero all the time and solve everybody's problems. You have your own too, I'm sure. Why don't you try looking at yourself for once?"

"Because I'm not the one who is hurting my self like you are Misty!" he yelled.

Misty stared at him.

"It's great to know that you care Ash" she said sarcastically. "I'll keep that in mind the next time you _don't_ try to stay in touch with me."

With that, she hopped into her car, looking slightly satisfied and irate at the same time. He was left speechless while, once again, she sped off leaving him confused and sad about the situation. He dropped down to his knees, and began to cry very softly.

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Misty checked the car clock. Five minutes until 7 o'clock. Perfect, as she was just about to drive into the Cerulean Airport's 'Arrivals' zone to wait for Rudy to emerge from the double doors. She parked her car and stepped outside, leaned up against the cool metal, and waited. She tried not to think about what everyone back at home was thinking about her right now. If she did, she would dwell on it too much and it would distract her when Rudy appeared. She turned around so that her stomach was pressed to the glass on the windows and that her eyes were level with the fading horizon. Pushing up her sunglasses, she marveled at the beauty of the dusk sky and felt a persistent feeling of sadness in her chest. She didn't feel alive anymore. She just wanted to give up; to never be seen again. How selfish of her. The hairs on the back of her neck and arms began to tingle slightly as they can into contact with the fingertips of a foreboding presence. Two arms looped their way around her small waist until the hands were firmly clasped together and the strong body had pulled her into an escapable hug. She felt his mouth lingering around the nape of her neck and she leaned back to nuzzle the hair and head of the person who caused her even greater pain. Is was time for fake smiles and laughter, and pretending everything is alright.

"Hey there, sweetie" he said softly before planting a chaste kiss upon her lips. How ironic. She smiled into the kiss and replied with a "how was your flight?" He dropped his arms from her waist and opened the door to the car and threw his luggage in the back seat. "Fine, but long, as usual. I wish you could come live with me so we wouldn't have to go through this whenever we visit each other" he said smiling. She knew it was a rhetorical request, so she returned his smile with one of her own. "You know I can't right now, we're both gym leaders and that means not leaving our posts." He rolled his eyes as she put the car in drive and sped off.

"So how is everyone?" he asked after a few moments had passed.

"Fine. In fact, we've got company. That's why I was slightly hesitant about your coming up here. I'm sure you'll remember some of them."

"Who?"

She looked at him and simply said, "You'll see." She didn't feel like talking anymore. Even though their conversation so far had basically consisted of nothing, she felt as though her energy had been drained from her the moment she felt him enveloping her. She turned on the radio, and let the music drown out the silence that was steadily growing. Her mind, much to her dismay, turned to thoughts of Ash and the rest of them and what they might be saying about her while she was out. Again, she started thinking about how everyone would react when they saw her and Rudy 'together'. Well, Brock, May, and Gary hadn't even met him so their opinion of him wouldn't be that bad. Tracey was old enough at the time of their first meeting to realize that Rudy was showing interest in her, and to extent, herself. Ash, on the other hand, didn't understand what was really happening during the battle. After they had sailed off from Trovita Island and Ash was out of earshot, Tracey had whispered that 'that battle was really over you, Misty. Ash just didn't know it!' She smiled softly at that thought. Ash was immature then but obviously his feelings towards her boy were now changed since he warned her against going to meet Rudy. Why though? She figured that he would never come to realize that Misty had liked him a lot throughout their journey's together, although he had sometimes managed to see through her playfulness. But he still hadn't figured it out. Maybe he had now or maybe he had feelings for…

No. That was ridiculous. If he had even the slightest regard for her and her feelings, he would have come to see her more often, like Rudy actually did, despite the distance. It could have worked out…

But we're just so stubborn and prideful. We would cancel each other out, just like we canceled each other out of our own lives in different ways. Nothing will be like it used to be now. We've become adults and you can't change the past. There. That's enough now. She told her brain to stop thinking about the past so she could get her life on schedule now and in the future.

"Misty, you know we just missed the turn to your street…?" Rudy said, interrupting her soliloquy of thoughts.

"Shit!" she said slamming on the brake while amazingly somehow missed a mailbox in the process.

"I think you're driving's gotten worse since last I saw you!"

She gave him a look of exasperation. "I was thinking. Lots of things on my mind, you should know that."

He snickered at her and received a punch on the arm in response. "Let's just get home, please? No thinking for you anymore, okay?"

She didn't even reply. She didn't want to get home.

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As they walked towards the front door, Misty reached for her eyes and drew it slowly into the lock, turning it as slowly as possible. She dreaded the reaction from everyone inside and the reaction from Rudy.

"You going to go any slower? Jeeze, what is wrong with you today? PMSing? Great, now I have that to look forward to all week" he said scowling.

She glared at him. "I am NOT PMSing. I'm just not in a good mood."

He smiled mischievously. "I can take care of that…" he said, reaching around to pull her into a hug. She grasped his hands that were making their way towards her backside and pulled them down quickly and efficiently away from their destination.

"That won't take care of it," she said firmly. He shrugged and grabbed his bag as she finally swung open the front door. She tiptoed quietly into the house, and peeked around the corned into the family room. It was empty. She sighed in relief. Maybe they had gone out?

"What the hell are you doing? You're acting as though you don't want to be seen?"

"That's the point." He stared at her in disbelief. "You are so strange sometimes, Misty."

"Then why do you put up with me?" she said, snapping at him.

Now it was his turn to sigh. "I'm not here to fight like a child Misty. I just want to relax and be with you."

"Shh!" she said irritated. "I think I know where they are. In the gym."

"Great! Then let's go there."

"Why?! I thought you said you wanted to rest?"

"I do but I want to see everyone first! Come on" he said dragging her with him, "Let's go. What is wrong with you Misty?"

She screwed up her face and allowed herself to follow him after he had released her grip from her. Connecting the family room to the gym was a small corridor that served at the girls' entrance for shows. She walked in silence, as he talked on about something she couldn't quite catch. Finally, the made their way to the door that read 'EXIT' in big, bold, red letters.

'Here goes nothing,' she muttered to herself, kicking the door open while releasing a small jump from both her and the people on the other side. Her eyes looked down as Rudy looped his large arm around her waist again and walked, almost in a strut, towards the people with a smirk on his face.

"Going to introduce me, Mist?" he asked. She grimaced and even from where her eyesight was currently, she still managed to see Ash's body flinch at the use of the word 'Mist' being emitted from someone else's mouth besides himself. She looked up.

"Brock, Gary, May, Tracey… Ash… this is my… boyfriend. Rudy. You remember those two from our time in Trovita, right?" she said to Rudy as she gestured over to her fellow journeyers.

He smiled, well, smirked. "Yes, I do. Guess you aren't as lucky as I first thought, Ash."

Ash's eyes flared with anger. Misty could just feel the tension in the room already. This was going to be a disaster.

A/N: hey guys, thanks for the continued reviews. Tell all your friends to read my story! Would be much appreciated! Next chapter should be up soon. -Kat


	5. Pressure

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 5 – Pressure

Misty couldn't just feel the tension, she could actually see it. Her sisters were shifting their glances back and forth from Rudy to the three older boys, and Ash's eyes were darting back and forth frantically between Rudy and herself. Rudy didn't seem to take any notice of how on edge everyone else seemed to be, so he merely kept going on with his intended conversation.

"Looks like she chose me instead, kiddo. The older and mature ones can always get through to a girls' heart!" He chuckled to himself, extremely pleased that the situation that had happened years before he obviously taken a very different turn. Misty nudged him hard with her elbow after she realized the entire gym was silent in disgust at Rudy's remarks.

"Rudy…" Misty warned softly, "Please don't get all Mr. Attitude here okay? Just save it for another time."

"Alright mom" he replied slightly patronizingly towards her, "So anyways, what's going on with you nowindays?" His question was directed at Ash, but he didn't a chance to reply. On the opposite side of the gym where challengers were directed to go into, a young looking boy had emerged. He looked quite nervous and worried and looked around in awe at the immense pool and bleachers that made up the interior of the arena. Finally, he looked over at the group of people across the pool and gathered up the courage to speak.

"Is this… the place where I can battle Misty?"

Misty was quite thankful for the tension breaker and removed herself from Rudy's grasp, once again. As she walked over towards the edge of the pool, she checked the clock on the wall, and noticed that there was only an hour left until closing time at nine. Under normal circumstances, she would have denied his request, since she liked to close up everything early and most people didn't come late at night for a match anyways. But for this boy, she would make an exception. Reaching the concrete edge of the pool, she smirked over towards the young boy.

"Yes it is, and I'm Misty. Hoping to win a Cascade Badge?"

The boy looked eager and rubbed his hands together in wishful anticipation.

"Yes, I am! I just came from Pewter and won the match easily," he said with an air of arrogance surrounding his speech. Unbeknownst to Misty, Brock had accumulated a series of sweat drops on his forehead, knowing that his mother was the cause of that easy win. Now it was Misty's turn for arrogance.

"Well, don't get your hopes up kid, the gym is ranked 2nd in the Indigo League behind Viridian, and I plan on keeping it that way!"

He smiled. "Let's battle!"

Misty went to a storage cabinet on the leader side of the gym near the diving board and open a drawer full of Poke Balls. Selecting Gyarados, Starmie, and Azurill, she knew she had made a good choice, and the Azurill would be in homage to Tracey's kindness in giving it to her as a present. She knew that these Pokemon would definitely be able to brutally hurt the boy's own choices, but right now she needed a good, rough match. She placed two of the balls into her back pockets, and walked over towards the pool. The floating mat islands had appeared from underwater and were stabilized and she leaped gracefully onto hers as did the boy, however not so gracefully, on to his. She glanced up towards the stadium seats, where everyone was about to take their seats as spectators. She noticed Ash and Rudy had been placed at opposite ends of the long line of the nine people and was pleased with that. She didn't need a fight to break out between them when she had one of her own. Instead of acting like children, both Ash and Rudy (mostly Ash) began to cheer on Misty, and soon the others joined in. She looked at the young boy again and his eyes showed a slight trace of fear, although he had puffed out his chest to reduce that fear. She smirked again, and called out her first Pokemon.

"Gyarados, GO!"

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"Bulbasaur, return!" cried the young boy sadly. He put his head down in defeat as Misty returned her Gyarados. She hadn't even needed the other two, as Gyarados was way too strong for his three inexperienced Pokemon. She felted a pang of pity for the child. Stepping over the middle three mats that were floating on the water's surface, she reached the closest one that was in front of the boy. He turned his head away from her but she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered, trying not to cry.

"Hey… look… don't take this match to heart, you did a great job and should be proud of yourself! You've already got one badge and there are other gyms out there for you to practice on. Don't get disheartened," she squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. He sniffled slightly before looking up at her.

"Yea, but you're one of the best. What if I come back and I can't beat you, even with all the practice I'll get?" She smiled sympathetically at him.

"You know what? I bet you will and you know why?" He shook his head. She leaned towards his ear.

"Because you remind me of someone I know when he was younger. I can tell that you're a _very_ determined young man and you will get better with time and practice." He looked up at her, and a new light shone on his face.

"You really think so?"

She smiled softly. "I know so." She stood of straight and took on a new look.

"Now, keep your chin up and I want to see you back here as soon as possible! Plus, it's getting late and I don't want you out there alone. Get yourself to the Pokemon Center up the street, okay?"

He saluted her and ran out as fast as he could, partially from embarrassment and partially from the need to be someplace safer than outside.

She glanced at him one more time before he disappeared. He really did look like Ash. He had spiky brown hair and brown eyes, although both were much lighter than Ash's, but his attitude and style were exactly the same. How she wished she could go back to those days…

"Misty!! Great job!" she heard commotion behind her and turned around, but barely in time before she was propelled backwards due to a flying hug from May. She stumbled to get her bearings on the floor and awkwardly returned it by patting her on the head. May beamed up at her with a crazed look in her eyes.

"Oh, I wish you had traveled with us, you could have helped me when I needed it!"

She frowned slightly.

"But Ash was there, couldn't he help you? I mean, he is the _real_ Pokemon trainer here. He looked downwards slightly as May scoffed.

"Yea, well, we wasn't always able to since he was busy training too. And it would have been nice to travel with a girl instead of three boys. Too bad you can't come with us once our vacation is up…" She trailed off. Misty was floored. Why the hell was May saying these things that she wanted to hear from Ash? She didn't think May gave two shits about her and now all this? What a surprising visit it really was.

She felt uncomfortable now, and it clearly showed as May began to look embarrassed and Ash was clearly having some issues with what May had just asked of her, since it brought up previous conversation topics. Instead of another odd silence, Rudy cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Look, sorry to interrupt your little chat, but I'm extremely tired and need to get some sleep."

"Rudy, its only 9 o'clock!" He looked at her annoyed.

"Look, I've been up since 7 freaking AM and just spent several hours on a cramped plane. I want to get some damn sleep, Mist." Ash cringed once again at his nickname for Misty and also at the fact that Rudy was acting very discourteous towards his host.

"Alright, alright," she put her hands up in mock defeat, also looking slightly irritated. "We'll go to bed. It has been a long day for the both of us."

He rolled his eyes. "You haven't done nearly as much as I have today. Don't act like you're more tired." Now he was just acting childish and as if he was in a competition. Violet and Lily rolled their eyes before they began to tap their feet on the ground in an upset fashion.

There went the tension in the room again. Although she was very irritated and tired, she refused to get angry with him. It would only cause more hate towards Rudy and more eventual confrontations between her and her sisters and her friends. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him over towards her.

"Let's just go to bed. You guys can stay up if you want to, you're all more than welcome to, you know that," she said gesturing towards the group other than her siblings. Ash looked at her with a very distressed look on his face. She paused briefly but in the end ignored it and firmly led Rudy towards the exit and up the nearest staircase.

She knew there would be a shortage of rooms, which meant either that Tracey would have to share a bed with Daisy (which he strongly was opposed as of right now, much to Daisy's disappointment) or… that Rudy would have to share one with her. They had shared a bed once before, when she came to visit him at his house in Trovita. It was an embarrassing situation for her since none of the sort had ever happened to her before. Rudy, on the other hand, was quite pleased that he had coaxed Misty into sleeping with him. Although this sleeping involved REM cycles and no sexual activity, due to her persistence and insistence towards him that nothing inappropriate should occur, lest he wish to get kicked in the groin area. Even her warnings provided no consolation on her part, since many times throughout the night and even during the times spent together, he was very adamant on getting her to cave in to his pressure and 'needs'.

She reached her room and opened the door, preparing for the worst of his advances once she allowed him to enter behind her. Without missing a beat, he removed his shirt and pants, allowing her to see his well built body that was much larger than Ash's. She shook her head violently, getting that Ash thought out of her head. Why was she comparing him to Ash?! That just left him with a pair of striped black and red boxers. He clambered into bed, wriggling underneath her covers and positioned himself so that he could see her clearly. He leered at her, suggestively. She rolled her eyes and turned around, modestly.

"Oh come on, Mist, it's not like I haven't seen you half naked before," he said, laughing. She turned around, angrily.

"Yes, but I still try to maintain some dignity you idiot!" He leered again as she turned around and took off her jeans, replacing them with a pair of extra small boxers that Rudy had brought along. While searching for a loose, sleeveless tee to wear in her armoire, she stripped off her semi-loose long sleeved shirt and threw it down on the floor. Rudy emitted a satisfied sound that made her cringe. She shot him a look as she prepared to unclasp her bra and he slowly put his face into an extra pillow. Slipping into the shirt, she then went over to turn off the light at one the table stands by her bed and cautiously got in. His arms reached for her immediately, pulling her into an escapable grasp, so she figured she might as well not try to struggle. He would only get annoyed with her.

"Good night," she breathed deeply, not feeling tried at all.

"Good night…" he exhaled slowly, not wanting sleep in the least bit. She knew that all too well what he wanted to do, and instead tried to act as if that she was exhausted so that he would not bother her. He seemed to be abiding to her rules as of now, but only perhaps because they both began to hear slow footsteps passing and echoing throughout the outside hallway. Soft murmurs were heard of ending conversations, closed doors and shower nozzles being turned on. She faintly heard the sound of Daisy and Tracey kissing each other goodnight, and her heart suddenly ached. Tracey was such a great guy who would never, ever try to take advantage of Daisy, although it had been in her nature to want just that. He was half scared of doing such a thing and Misty figured that it would take awhile for him to get used to the idea of a relationship beyond cuddling and kissing.

She barely heard the door next to her room close and she knew Ash was getting ready to go to bed. She wondered what he was doing right now… and how he was feeling about all this.

'He probably doesn't care,' she thought, 'he never cared, so why would he start now?'

At just that moment, she felt the hand that had previously been resting on her waist begin to travel southwards. She immediately brought her hand down to catch his, and chastised him quietly, as to not let the others hear through the walls. He silently objected by trying to kiss her on a sensitive spot: her neck and collarbone area. She willed herself not to give in to his ways and rolled her self as far away from his head of she could, which was slightly difficult since he refused to remove his hands from her waist. He once again tried to caress her but this time she answered his pleas with an audible 'no' and a light shove. When he did not cooperate a third time, she clearly stated 'NO' with a more forceful kick and he sighed angrily and moved over onto his back and went to sleep.

Ash could hear noises, and noises in bed didn't normally mean good things. Well, to him anyways. He hoped very much that they weren't doing anything… promiscuous. His is new thoughts on that subject saddened him very much. He finally heard one last sound, more perceptible than the last few, and with that, it became dead silent. He tried to disregard his devious and cruel thoughts that were tormenting him with awful images that he tried to block out. Closing his eyes very tightly, he rolled lazily onto his stomach and tried to relax and before long, he was in a deep, troubling sleep.

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She awoke to harsh droplets of pelting rain hitting her sky light above. She didn't feel like getting up, as she had finally found a comfortable position during the night and was surrounded in a pleasing warmth. She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few moments. She normally wasn't this warm when she woke up. Looking around she realized that Rudy he reattached himself to her during the night. They were both on their sides and he was pressed up against her back with his legs wrapped around hers with both hands farther south than they should have been. In any other circumstance, she would not have minded such a position, but to her it felt very wrong. It was forceful, not protective to be in his arms. She did not feel safe in the least. Hoping that the rather loud noise of the rain would block out some of his hearing, she removed herself (which took some skillful maneuvering) from his clutches and went to go brush her teeth. Her mouth had acquired a foul taste and she suspected she knew why. She grabbed a light bathrobe and tied it to around her waist and made her way gently towards the bathroom. She opened the door slowly, as it did have a tendency to squeak. With her back towards the door, she began to look for the light switch and in her haste to get rid of herself from her room she did realize that the light was already on. She looked at the wall, perplexed and then sighed, thinking perhaps someone had left it on. She turned around and stifled a small, shocked scream as she came face to face with Ash. He looked at her sympathetically.

"What the hell are you doing in here?!"

"We do have to share a bathroom, you know" he stated quietly.

"I know that, but you could have made some kind of noise to let me know that it wasn't safe to enter!"

"I'm dressed!" he defended, "That _is_ safe."

She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Whatever. Can you please leave?" she asked impatiently.

He nodded obediently and took his leave, but not before looking at her oddly. She gave him a weird look and she was astonished that he didn't continue their brief little spat. Maybe he was maturing. That odd look had thrown her off though. She hoped he wasn't thinking about her and Rudy… she was positive that he knew that they had slept in the same bed.

Before she had a chance to dwell more on the uncomfortable subject, Rudy decided to barge in, yawning and stretching simultaneously.

"Morning."

"Morning…"

"Look, I just got a call from my sis at the gym; apparently they've having some problems."

"You're going to have to go back home?" she asked a little too eagerly. He looked at her.

"No, I'm not. I just have to go to the main gym leader building near the Plateau and get some things straightened out. Apparently I didn't send in the proper application for a leave. I'll be back by the end of the day, so don't get your hopes up" he said to her. She sneered at him in return.

"I wasn't. Just be safe."

He answered her by drawing her up into a passionate kiss, one that she did not want, but succumbed to him anyway. She felt needed when he did that, but not in a good way. She sighed into him slowly, but abruptly pulled away from him when he began to place his hands on her behind.

He frowned. "Mist… why won't…"

"Stop. You need to leave and I've got to deflate some kids' egos. I'll see you tonight."

He kissed her once again, this time she let him enjoy it slightly more. He turned to leave, throwing on some clothes before he did without so much as a goodbye. She stared miserably towards the door, not because she was sad at his leaving, but because she knew she never really wanted to be with him in the first place. She heard a faint ringing on the gym doorbell which meant another battler had come for her. She returned to her previous thoughts and turned on the shower to soothe away her pain.

(A/N: okay, I hope you like this chapter; sorry it took so long to get up. I've had some writers block as to what I should do for the middle part of the story but I know exactly how it will end. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me feedback, both good AND bad criticisms of my story. And tell people to read it, please!!!


	6. Therapy

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 6 - Therapy

To Ash's surprise, the week ended up going much faster than he had anticipated, probably because each day seemed more like the last. It usually began and ended with a fight or two from Misty and Rudy after he had returned from his short stint at the Plateau. He also did not like the fact that this meant that his brief amount of time with Misty would most likely be coming to an end sometime in the next two weeks. His mother had phoned a few days earlier to ask exactly when he planned on coming home to see her. She did after all live alone (with the exception of Mr. Mime who didn't even come close to what Ash's proximity provided for her) and wanted to see him. May's parents had also phoned just a few hours earlier to urge her to come home as well. May reluctantly agreed since she was enjoying the time with friends, but she did feel quite homesick.

Ash had realized, and was not very surprised, when he saw that Rudy's behavior towards Misty had worsened, if that was even possible. He supposed his cocky antics at the beginning of the week were just to show off that he had finally gotten what he had always wanted. Now he was just being a jerk to her, and kept putting her down. He knew that Misty was taking this hard, but of course she would never show it. She put on her usual façade of a tough, impenetrable girl and fired right back at him. Misty's behavior was some damn puzzling. He could visible see her deteriorating in front of him and numerous times throughout the week had he tried to corner her and get her to talk to him. He had always felt the closest to her out of all his companions, and he thought she had felt the same way. Sure Brock, Tracey, and May were great but Brock and Tracey were much older and May was younger and hadn't been through anything near that Ash and Misty had shared. They were about the same age and were at the same points in their lives. The adventures they shared together were something he would never forget. He had realized this the moment she exited his life 3 years ago. She had changed since then obviously, but he had too. After their departure, he had kept more to himself than usual, locking away any sort of feelings of loneliness and despair where they could fester quietly. For about a year he tried to figure out what was wrong with him self, and finally the pieces began to come together: he felt so out of place whenever _she_ wasn't there.

Ever since that 'revelation', he had made a goal to become more mature. It wasn't as easy as he first thought, since finding yourself in a huge pit of childishness wasn't an easy task. He still was trying to figure out life, and during that process, he honestly forgot about contacting her. He was too busy trying to improve himself for her.

'That really doesn't make any sense…" he thought, sighing.

He would have to prove to her that he had become a different person in certain aspects. Of course, some things about him would never change, because some things never do, but he was sure as hell bent on trying. Today was Sunday. That meant Misty had nothing to do, except perhaps spend time with the asshole (the name that everyone had unanimously decided to dub Rudy). He would have to keep trying with her, until she became so exasperated at his constant insistence to speak with him. He figured she would be in her room. She had begun to spend time there more regularly when she wasn't in the gym or fighting with Rudy. He propped himself up on his shoulders and then hoisted himself up onto the floor below. Stepping over towards the bathroom quietly, he strained to hear if anyone else was in the room with her, or if she was even in the room at all. The sound of soft music permeated through the door crevices, so he figured it was safe (or not) to come see about her. He didn't even bother to knock, as it might give her a chance to make up some excuse as to why she couldn't speak with him. Upon entering, she looked up, half annoyed and half surprised that he had attempted to come see her when she kept specifically telling him to mind his own business. She brought her knees down from her chest and relaxed her arms before nodding her head slightly in acknowledgement of his presence. He deduced that she didn't have a problem with his being there yet, so he sat himself on the bed next to her and trying to find a comfortable position in a soon to be uncomfortable conversation. She acted upon the silence first.

"Ash, if you're going to try and talk to me again, please do _not_ even try. You know you won't get far with me."

"Yes, but I can keep on trying, right?" She gave him a look of disbelief.

"If you really want to waste your time…"

"Well I have nothing better to do—"

"So you're saying you're only bothering me because you're bored and just trying to annoy me?

"I didn't mean it that way! What I meant was… well… I want to try and talk with you since I don't have anything else to do. But I would talk with you even if I did."

She studied him while taking in the nonsensical sentence he had just blurted out. He still acted before he thought. Just like a child. She got up off of the bed, eyes directed straight at him.

"You don't need to talk to me. I see a therapist for that."

"Yea, but rumor has it you're not even telling her anything about you either. So that's not fair."

"You know, you could be a little more subtle when you tell me that you all have been talking about me behind my back," she said slightly aggravated.

"Why won't you talk to her?" he said, completely ignoring her comment.

"Why should I talk to someone I barely know?"

"Because you're not even talking to people you do know. People you don't know are easier to talk to because they don't know you, right?"

"…What?"

"Never mind. And it _is_ my business to know what's going on in your life. I thought we trusted each other. We could always talk about things when we were kids."

"Not everything," she muttered. "And you know what? We could talk about things back then because we had the same interests. We're older now and things have changed. You have to realize that. We're too different from the way we used to be and frankly I'm fine with that."

"I don't think you are, Mist."

"And how would you know?" she remarked angrily.

"…Because if you were fine you wouldn't be dating an asshole like Rudy," he said softly.

She looked taken aback for a few seconds at how on top of things he was but jerked her self out of her current vulnerable state when she saw what time it was.

"I need to go to my therapy session."

"Like that's going to help," he said with a tone of sarcasm.

"Fine, you don't trust me? I'll bring somebody along to show you that I _will _talk about my damn problems if it will stop your harassing me every hour!"

"I'm not harassing you Misty. I'm just worried," he said earnestly.

She softened her expression at hearing that from his mouth. She lowered her eyes.

"Why don't you bring me along?"

She looked up at him and looked into his genuinely laced expression of interest. He shifted slightly before speaking, as if gathering up some more courage.

"_I_ can be your therapy, Mist."

"No," she stated firmly.

"Why not?!" he said crossly.

"You won't understand. You're not mature enough."

"How do you know whether I'm mature or not?! You haven't spoken with me in the last 3 years; you have no idea who I've become now! I'm older Misty and I think I've changed, so why can't you let me show you that?" he said getting frustrated.

"Mature my ass Ash! Where the hell was this maturity when you stopped speaking to me? That wasn't mature at all! Acting mature would have meant that you would have at least made a slight effort to keep on contact with me! Cutting me out _was_ acting like a child!"

"I didn't mean to cut you out and I never intended to… I was just really confused."

"Enough. I have to leave and I am not taking you with me. I am not ready for that yet."

"Then who and when?" he demanded.

"Brock."

"Brock?! He is not mature at all!"

"Yes he is. When it comes to a non-physical woman way."

"But—"

"Take it or leave it Ash. It's a step in the right direction from your perspective, right?"

He stood there silently and nodded his head in a confused sort of way, knowing that it was best to stop fighting now. Without so much as another word, she left the room and he heard her knocking on Brock's door gently before she spoke with him quietly. Ash watched from her doorway as the two made their way downstairs, side by side. Brock looked back up at him slowly and Ash shrugged his shoulders. At that point Misty grabbed his left ear and led him forcefully out the front door where they departed to the office of the therapist. Ash took in the scent of Misty's room before he made his own way towards his room. He wanted to know why she couldn't bring him with her. Maybe she would be talking about personal stuff. That was a topic that neither of them had delved deeply into when then still together, as he was still not comfortable talking about his own past. However, he felt that maybe he was ready to talk to someone about it, and he had decided that person was Misty. If he opened up to her, maybe she would finally open up to him…

He rubbed his temples with a light amount of pressure and collapsed onto his bed. The clock there read 6:45PM; that meant she would not be back for over an hour. All there was to do was wait. Too bad Pikachu wasn't here with him, but he had decided to keep it with Professor Oak for a good, long rest after the gang had picked up Tracey on their way to Cerulean. Directing his thoughts back to Misty, he wondered if there was some way to bribe Brock into letting him know what Misty discussed…

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"Ash?"

The boy jolted out of the nap had he apparently taken. He rolled over and followed the direction the voice had come from and saw that it was Daisy.

"Mhm?" he replied haggardly.

She smiled. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had seen Misty? She's not in her room and Rudy was asking where she had gone to…"

Ash was still groggy but that didn't keep him from rolling his eyes.

"He sent you to come find her?"

"Well, we were both looking for her but I volunteered to actually come upstairs. He's engrossed in the quarterfinals going on right now."

"Daisy… you're becoming too nice."

She blushed. "I'm trying."

He frowned slightly. "But you shouldn't be nice with him. And I'm surprised she didn't tell him that she went to her appointment."

Daisy raised her eyebrows very high.

"She actually went? I didn't think she'd go for awhile; it took us _forever_ to get her to go. I wonder what made her change her mind…"

"I told her I wanted to go with her, but she took Brock instead."

Daisy raised her eyebrows even higher. "Oh… I'm sorry?" she said unsure of how to react.

"It's fine. I'm just waiting for her to get back."

Daisy eyes transferred their gaze to his face.

"I'm really glad you're here. I know you have been trying to help her, and I think you are the one to do it. Eventually it will get through, I know it will. Don't give up hope on her. Don't fall for her façade. She's been that way since the day she was born, no thanks for us. She does care about you more than you realize."

He jerked his head up upon hearing the last part.

"That's… refreshing to hear."

"I'll let Rudy know," she said quietly, and left him to contemplate.

Knowing that maybe she did care about him made him realize how stupid he had been when they were younger. He could he have not seen it? He knew these feelings hadn't kicked in until she left the group for good. They had always been there; he just didn't know what they were and had ignored them. Puberty was a very confusing time, especially for a guy. He mentally kicked himself a few times for being so dense.

"I think I need a therapist too," Ash muttered aloud.

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Misty pulled into the parking lot of the office and was glad to be done with a very awkward and silent drive. Brock had not said a word but after catching some quick glimpses of his face she could clearly see he was baffled. They both exited and headed for the office.

"I'll explain it to you in a minute or two," she said.

He nodded in acknowledgement and followed her, still silent, into the waiting room. Within a few minutes, the door opened and out popped two previous clients along with another woman whom he presumed was the therapist. She looked over at Misty and smiled.

"I'm surprised you showed up Misty."

She looked embarrassed. "I was convinced to come to escape a delicate situation."

"Glad to hear it. And who might this be? Ash, I presume?"

Brock and Misty exchanged glances and both smiled weakly.

"No, no. This is my good friend Brock. We've known and traveled together for a long time. I… wanted to bring him along. I think I owe an explanation to him for putting up with my behavior throughout our experiences together."

Brock smiled down at her. The therapist gestured for them to go into her room. They took their seats silently and Misty prepared to speak a long monologue about her life.

"I know I haven't been giving you nearly enough information you need to figure me out. This is was I should have told you four weeks ago when I first came to see you."

She took a deep breath and tried to prepare herself for what she knew what was coming.

"Everything started the day I was born."

(A/N: okay, a slight cliffhanger. I took advice from Seraphyl and tried to show Ash's attempts to talk with Misty and he did succeed slightly. The next chapter is going to reveal Misty's life from birth until now so hopefully I will answer some questions about why her behavior is so erratic. Please keep reviewing!!!)


	7. Session

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

May: 16

Chapter 7 - Session

Even now, before she was actually digging into the depths of her past, she could feel her throat begin to tighten and her heart palpitated more quickly than usual. She knew her voice was also going to vibrate shakily as it always did in unpredictable situations like this, but she knew that she would have to push the limits of her comfort zone to clarify why she had been acting so guarded.

"From what's always been told to me from my sisters, my parents were both only 17 years old and found each other during a time in their lives when they probably were looking for support, not a relationship. Unfortunately, their feelings of isolation translated into lust, and things began to take their course. After dating on and off for only a year, they decided to get married, and it has been hinted that she was pregnant before they actually got engaged, which was something my grandparents would have never allowed or tolerated. My parents welcomed my sisters into their lives with gusto; they loved them very much. Unfortunately, my parents were still very young and inexperienced 5 years later when they found out that I had been unexpectedly conceived. Soon after, problems aroused themselves very fast since they could not support another child.

She paused slightly to take a breath and continued on.

"After my birth, as I have been told numerous times by my sisters, my parents began to fight more and more frequently, and my father began to physically beat her. I can remember some instances of them screaming at each other, and I know they were fighting about the financial situation that had worsened ever since I had been born. They were losing money; during the time I was little, gym battles had been in decline for Cerulean and they weren't getting any support from the League or my grandparents."

She looked up, clearly unperturbed from the information she was distributing since she was really too young to remember too much of the incidents, but her therapist and Brock clearly looked shocked and appalled.

"Well, one day my parents decided to go to the League in person to try and sort things out and to possibly get a loan or two from them. On the way back though, they got into a fight. Both of them were half drunk from going out to a bar that night in a fit a rage when the League said it could do nothing to help them and that it was their problem. Things got a little of out control and the drove over the side of a cliff near Pewter City and ironically, drowned. I guess they were trapped inside the car. They died on the night of my birthday."

"Anyways…" she said after a small silence, "My sisters were 8 and I was 3 and we all had to support ourselves when my grandparents took off and never spoke to us again," she stated bitterly.

"Daisy definitely took control of everything and became the absent mother figure in our lives. Violet or Lily have matured, but are still very childlike and dependent on each other to this day. I, on the other hand, never heard the end of it. I remember always being told by them, mostly Vi and Lily, that I was mistake and that my birth had caused their deaths. I was the runt to them, the scrawny outsider who would never amount to anything. Hearing this from a very young age has obviously played a big factor unto my life, thus creating the feelings of extreme self-consciousness, self-worthlessness, depression, etc. But as they got older, they seemed to cover their grief by acting like idiots. I mostly kept to myself, and from a young age decided to never let them get the best of me by putting on a fake front, pretending I was strong and an unsolvable person to infiltrate. I had dreams of taking on the Cerulean Gym as my own, since my sisters really wanted to part of the life that they concluded had killed my parents with all the stresses and strains that come with it."

She took in a breath and continued on.

"Finally, when I was 10, I had had enough of their awful antics. I left the gym, intending to never come back until I had become a Water Pokemon Master and then could kick their asses forever out of the gym and take what was rightfully mine. However, that didn't exactly happen."

"Is this where…" interjected the therapist.

"Ash comes in? Yup," Misty nodded, half smiling, half-frowning. "Brock too… and the others..."

"My life got even more complicated during this time. Obviously as a girl I was going through puberty a lot faster than the guys and the moment I met Ash I instantly developed a crush on him. It really is hard when you like someone so much and they don't like you back, or at least don't understand what you mean by it. But, the upside of the situation was that Ash, Brock, and Tracey became my second family. My siblings. They were the only family at the time that I cared about."

"At the time, you said. So what do you think of your biological siblings?"

Misty thought inwardly about this for a moment, screwing up her face in thought. She looked over at her therapist forlornly; with little emotion in her face.

"I really don't know what to think of them. My relationship will them will never advance to anywhere after what they put me through. Daisy has made an attempt to repair the damage she did, even if it wasn't as bad as the other two, but still, to me, it's fake. She is propelled by guilt and if I succumb to her behavior I'm positive she'll be satisfied with herself and go back to her old ways. I don't want that. I have to keep my guard up with them at all times. I don't trust them, I don't trust anybody; I never have."

She paused again, thinking.

"But… the closest person I ever came to trusting was Ash. He was too nice and without depth to hurt someone. At least not intentionally. But I don't know what to think of him anymore after he cut me out of his life."

"Misty…" Brock said quietly, "He didn't cut you out of his life."

She turned on him angrily.

"Then I want to hear him say that! Why can't he tell me what he is feeling? He never had the capability or could fathom any type of emotion other than the exhilaration of winning."

"Look, you _both_ need to talk to each other, but you refuse to and none of us are sure why."

"You know what?" she said with a nagging frustration, "I don't know why either."

"I think you're scared Misty," interjected the therapist. "I know you were terrified to talk to me when you first came in about a month ago. Daisy was basically dragging you in here. And I know it's not easy telling your darkest secrets to someone you barely know, but you've known Ash for a very long time!"

"Minus those three years," she muttered darkly.

"But the point is he came back and he's making an effort to mend things with you. I from the sound of it, I don't think he would ever deliberately try to hurt you, am I correct Brock?"

"Yea Misty, Ash isn't like that at all, he is one of the most caring people we know!"

"But only towards Pokemon and things like that. He is so far behind in the emotional department and I don't think he'll ever get there."

"Mist, he has matured quite a bit. You just need to let him in."

With that, she stood up flustered.

"I told you I can't let him in; it was hard enough letting you all in that day you suddenly showed up in my house! How the hell was I supposed to react? If he wants me to talk to him maturely, then he's going to have to show me just how 'mature' he's become. Then _maybe_ then I'll start trusting him again!"

She was trembling slightly and tried to calm her composure before she spoke again.

"None of you… have any idea what I've been through… and it's so _fucking _hard for me sometimes… and nobody seems to understand that," she whispered, attempting not to cry.

Her therapist exchanged a pitiful glance at Brock her returned it likewise.

"Misty, I think that's enough for today. I really am glad you did open up a bit more, and maybe with time, you can set goals for yourself to try and change things. I'll see you same time next week."

Misty didn't even acknowledge her speech and blankly stared out towards the floor in front of her. Brock removed himself for the couch while quietly saying a quick 'thank you' at the woman before physically escorting the shaky redhead towards her car. Wordlessly she gave him the keys to her car and he silently accepted them, preparing to drive them home. Misty recognized that she was consciously avoiding Ash and he probably didn't deserve all the crap she gave him. He never did. She would have to make a decision on whether or not she could trust him again.

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She hated these awkward silences. Brock was clearly upset, not at her, but for her and she wanted to remedy that. It was not that often that Brock wasn't in an upbeat, cheerful mood. She searched her head for topic conversations, but none really seemed appropriate. One did come to her mind, but she wasn't sure whether or not she should inquire. It really wasn't any of her business, but still, she would like to know.

"Misty?" He had beat her to it.

"Yea?"

"How come you wanted to bring me? I think I understand a bit more now why you didn't want Ash, but why me?"

"I think I owed you an explanation of my attitude. You are my closest friend and you deserve that."

"Do you want me to tell the others? Well, specifically Ash?"

Misty groaned silently.

"It's up to you. I know he's going to be bombarding me with questions the moment we get home anyways."

"Only if anyone asks."

"Thanks."

Another silence filled the air, but this one was more relaxed than the previous. Remembering that she had a question of her own to ask Brock, she voiced the subject of her thoughts verbally.

"Brock?"

He titled his head slightly towards her in reply.

"What's up between you and my sister?"

He looked at her for a moment, quickly, before turning back to the road. He grinned to himself. She noted this, and gave an exasperated exhale.

"So there _are_ things going on."

"You're not mad are you?" he said fearfully. "I don't want you hitting me."

She laughed out loud and replied:

"No I'm not. Actually, I think that you're good matches for each other. Both crazy about the opposite sex. What more could you want in a relationship?"

He smiled at her comment.

"Misty, I have matured too, you know. Your sister is definitely someone I want to get to know better. Now, as for Lily and Gary…"

"Wait, what?!" she said flustered, "She actually has an interest in _him_?!" she placed a stress on the word him that clearly brought about her distaste for the boy.

Brock smirked. "Well the interest in there, I'm just not so sure about their intentions."

"That whore… and man-whore…"

Brock burst into a fit of laughter and Misty just grinned. She was glad she had gotten his thoughts off of her for a little bit.

"I don't think I even want to know…" she muttered. Brock grinned. So did she.

She threw herself back onto the passenger seat and sighed outwardly, taking in the fresh night air before she would have to endure the staleness of an upset and uptight household. Thanks to herself.

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Upon their arrival home, both Misty and Brock had been greeted unceremoniously by each of their respective partners: Rudy planting an unwanted kiss upon her lips, and Violet by nearly knocking Brock over as she made their couple status official with a chest-crushing hug. Both pulling away at the same time, they made their ways into the kitchen, where a late and light dinner was being served. Misty took notice of an absence right away and was pleased.

"May leave?"

"Yea, she left about an hour ago. She wanted me to tell you she'd be keeping in touch," Violet stated.

"A shame she couldn't stay," Lily said smirking.

Misty hid her annoyance and sat down. Noting the abnormal absence of Ash from a table filled with food, she inquired after him.

"Where is he?"

Daisy pointed towards the hall where the stairs were.

"Up talking with Tracey and Gary. They've been up there for awhile now."

"Ah, thanks."

This elicited a look from the sisters and Rudy.

"You're thanking us? Wow, these sessions have paid off. Learning about manners too? I'm impressed!" Lily sneered.

Misty glared at her, shoved back her seat while grabbing a piece of fruit for a dinner substitute and left the kitchen.

"Lily… learn to figure out how shut your mouth sometime soon? Thanks," replied Daisy crossly.

She responded by childishly sticking out her tongue and went back to work on the mass of vegetables piled together that she called dinner.

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Misty was preparing to go to her room and sleep off her thoughts, but upon hearing Ash's normally low, gruff voice become raised a few pitches higher, her curiosity got the better of her and she attempted to make her way towards Tracey's stand-in room. The door was closed and the light that was escaping from the bottom helped to guide her towards her destination. She pressed the side of her body onto the hallway wall and flinched at its coolness. She began to pick up small tidbits of their conversation as she strained to hear them.

"I like May."

A pang of jealously shot through her body upon hearing those words emit themselves from Ash's mouth. The boy who didn't get _anything_ about girls. The boy who acted as if he never took an interest in the opposite sex. Apparently, she was wrong. Very wrong on both counts.

"… so perfect, you know? I really, really love…"

Shocked and angry at the same time, Misty abruptly turned on her heel, not caring if they did hear her, and made her way downstairs quickly to find a certain boy.

(A/N: Sorry this took awhile to get up, but I hope you all enjoy it  Read and review as always, please. I love both positive and negative feedback.)


	8. Done

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

Chapter 8 - Done

"…That month," Ash said with dwindling enthusiasm.

Gary scowled. "You do not like May you little liar. We _all_ know that you like October because that's when you met Misty," he said, exposing a little secret of Ash's.

Ash turned a peculiar color of red.

"Shut up! I know I shouldn't have told you that. Tracey wouldn't have told anybody!" He paused and then asked:

"How the _hell_ did we get on to this topic anyways?"

"So we could get you to stop repeatedly asking us when Misty would be back from her appointment," Tracey pointed out.

"A very masculine topic, Trace," Gary replied sarcastically.

"Hey, just remember you seemed a little too excited for this 'masculine topic'. We found out that your favorite flower is a Lily… but I'm beginning to think that maybe that had something do to with this new found 'fixation' of yours with the real-life Lily," retorted Tracey.

"Coincidence," he said muttering but looking pleased with him self all the same.

The almost-closed door creaked open and Brock revealed himself to the crowd of boys sprawled on the bed.

"Hey guys," he said, trying to appear nonchalant. Unfortunately, his demeanor somehow gave his true feelings away. Or maybe Ash was just getting smarter in how to read people.

"How was it? What did Misty say? Did she talk about me? Will you actually talk about it with me? I would like to…"

"Ash," Brock said putting his hands up, "I'll get there. But, I'd rather talk to Ash alone, okay guys?"

"Of course. Wouldn't want to ruin your little chit-chat!" Gary said derisively. "Don't really care anyways."

"I do!" Tracey piped up. Gary jabbed him in the stomach.

"Don't worry. Somehow, I'm sure this conversation will make its way to one of the sisters, and that means soon everybody will know. Although that would be through the grapevine, and information might get a little bit twisted…"

"Come on Brock," Ash said hurriedly, whilst shoving Gary and Tracey out the door.

Ash closed it quietly and returned to his now wrinkled and disheveled spot on the bed. Brock paced around for a few seconds and Ash strummed his fingers on his jawbone impatiently. Just as Ash thought he couldn't stand the waiting any longer Brock cut in, somehow having the foresight to realize that Ash would shortly attack him vehemently unless he didn't confer what he had heard just over an hour ago.

"She knew you were going to ask and I asked if that was okay with her. She didn't seem too enthralled by it but she said I could. So, she can't get mad at me. I was thinking maybe I should have gotten her to sign something so I could have her signature stating that she would _not_ kill me if I did tell you…"

"Brock, stop jabbering on and just tell me what she said!!"

"Well, she just gave me a lot of background information about her, things we knew about previously and some we didn't."

"Like…"

"That her sisters basically blame her for causing their parents' deaths, etc."

"And you're going out with Violet why?"

"That's not the point. The extent of the damage done happened years ago, is long-term, and was never forgotten. They're trying to resolve things with her now but she won't accept it. She's scared they're just pretending. And I think some of that applies to you, and even to some of us.

Ash mouthed a silent 'why' before it could escape his mouth.

"Well… because we did kind of cut her out of our lives Ash. I hate to admit it, but we did. Not deliberately, of course but still, we were all she had back then and we never kept in touch with her. Those feelings of desolation and false hope came back. I just didn't think it was going to affect her so badly. Hindsight is a bitch, Ash."

"I guess that makes sense. No wonder she hates me."

"I really doubt she hates you Ash. I think she is attempting to hate you, but that's never going to happen."

"Why?" he repeated.

"Ash… you know that she really, really liked you, right?"

"…Really?"

Brock sighed, exasperated. "Misty was right, you were and still are behind in the romance department."

"Well… we fought all the time!" Ash stated, trying to defend the undeveloped romantic feelings of his youth. If she had _told _me she liked me… well that's a different story."

"Oh come on Ash! Don't tell me you've never heard the saying 'you always hurt the one you love?' Everybody knew what was going on except you! Remember when you battled Rudy? Remember that he told you that you were a lucky guy? Does that ring a bell? What do you think he was getting at?!" Brock said with irritation.

"Don't turn this conversation around to make me look like the bad guy! At least I eventually realized that I liked her, and liked her a lot! I'm the one trying to be nice to her, but she's just throwing that in my face!"

"Ugh! Enough, I _don't _want to fight with you. I'm just telling you what she said, what she used to think and what we all thought and still think. I'm not going to be the middle-man here. If you want to talk to her, you're going to have to show her how sorry you were and that you've matured."

"I like how this task was specially appointed to me when it seems like she was/is pissed at all of us."

"Don't ask me to untangle Misty's mind. I don't think she has completely forgiven us but after tonight it seemed like she was willing to give you a chance. So take it and try to prove to her that you are different and that you do worry about her. I doubt it's gonna be easy but what is easy when it comes to Misty? If you keep bugging her eventually, hopefully, that will translate to her that you do care about her."

The silence that followed suit was so still that Ash could hear a distinct ringing in his ears.

"She told me that… none of us had any idea what she's gone through. Maybe… if you can find something that is relatable to her pain and is similar to something that has happened in your life, you'll both find a ground of commonality. I don't think she ever thought that about you two. Then maybe your fighting will stop."

Ash fiddled around with the blanket below him, scrunching it tightly in his grasp to instill it with his feelings of frustration. He knew Brock was right. He needed to talk to her, tell her that he really, really liked her and missed being around her so much. He would show her that he was ready to handle his feelings, and possibly a relationship, if she would have it. He would have to push aside his inexperience and nervousness to try and help her. He owed her that…

Hoisting himself up with his arms, he ambled slowly towards the door. Before leaving, he looked back at Brock and said:

"So… does she still like me now?"

Brock responded by throwing a pillow at him in aggravation.

"What? It was a serious question!"

"What do you think? Now get your butt out of here."

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After Misty had stormed down the stairs she found that the house seemed eerily unoccupied, however she heard a small amount of noise coming from the family room, and ventured over to see who was occupying the room presently. Upon arriving, she saw, ironically, that the person on the couch who just who she wanted to see (for later). Rudy gave her his trademark smirk while simultaneously staring at her silhouetted figure, as if he was rummaging her clothed body with his eyes only. Her glance shifted towards the television and the suddenly felt the urge to cross her arms over her small chest. While still glancing at the television, she made her way over to the couch and tried to relax herself.

Her mind was going a mile a minute after what she had just heard Ash spoken. Now she had more of a reason to hate May. That stupid little bitch had replaced her, just as she had previously thought. She came during the time when Ash may have started to realize that girls didn't have cooties. Of course he liked her! She cursed herself for leaving the group and coming home to the gym. That had only made life worse. Her sisters still nagged at her occasionally and she felt that she wasn't getting any better as a leader. Rudy had reminded her of her weakness as a leader numerous times, putting her down and she was really beginning to believe it.

'_Fuck you, May,' _she thought to herself, attempting to hold back the tears that were surely going to come.

Luckily, a distraction presented itself as she saw Tracey and Gary come down the stairs, Gary looking slightly pissed and Tracey looking as though he was missing out on something important. She was further distanced from her thoughts when Gary spoke to her.

"Where's your sister?"

"Which one?"

"Umm… Lily? Who else would I want to see?" he said impolitely.

"They're all in the gym working out. Enjoy," she replied.

Without a 'thanks' from neither of the boys, Misty went back to attempting to concentrate on the movie (a horribly cliché and predictable chick-flick). Rudy so far had made no attempt to perform the age old 'yawn-and-stretch' on her as one does during movies such as this. He looked oddly glazed over. She shrugged off it. No contact was good for now. Jumping slightly after hearing a muffled thud and the stumbling of many feet, she turned to see two swift moving figures make their way up the stairs. She caught a quick glimpse of pinkish hair entangled in a spiky brown top and realized that it might not be safe to go upstairs for awhile.

She continued to watch the movie for a few more minutes, getting more and more irked by the dialogue, which seemed similar to what she had experienced in real life. Suddenly, she heard Brock's voice raise up a few notches, although it was still stifled by the thick walls, and then heard the door slam shut from his temporary room. Straining to hear anything else, she realized that she did hear footsteps and knew that it was Ash. Suddenly overcome by intense feelings of jealously and resent, she placed herself in an advantageous position over Rudy's body just as Ash was about to enter the room. Driven by a rush of pure adrenaline and not quite realizing exactly what she was doing, she pressed her lips roughly on Rudy's and parted his lips with her tongue, almost wolfing him down as they exchanged saliva. She had maneuvered herself so that both their profiles would be seen from the entrance of the room, where Ash was now standing. She knew that both boys in the room were experiencing quite different feeling of shock: one enjoyment and one disdain. She began to feel Rudy kiss back, although more harshly than she had done, and she felt herself being drawn into a state of confusion. She was not enjoying this in the least but her feelings of anguish were forcing her to do so.

Ash, on the other hand, was simply dumbfounded. His hands, that had become increasingly wet with perspiration due to apprehension, had become clammy. He stood at the doorway, one hand gripping the side of jamb, the only thing that currently was supporting his now failing body. To see what they actually did alone rather than hearing or knowing about it was so much worse. To see her, straddling the person whom he hated most; who was one of the people who treated her like shit, was nauseating. He stood there for what seemed like forever, not able to move, his mood waning by the second. Finally, they parted, both out of breath: Rudy, looking extremely satisfied and Misty, also looking satisfied, but in different way that Ash could not put his finger on. She looked up over at him, her mouth still open in a seductive sort of way and eyes narrowed, hands firmly grasping the tensed muscles on Rudy's shoulders. Rudy, his mesmerized look now fading, took notice of why Misty had brought their make-out session to a close and directed his eyes in the same direction hers were pointed at. Smirking contentedly, and drew Misty into an authoritative hug and she complied with his actions, still staring at Ash in triumph.

Finally gaining his composure, Ash turned around and was almost knocked over by Brock, who had decided to come downstairs at that very moment. Ash muttered a quick 'excuse me' and rapidly made his way up the stairs, skipping two at a time. Brock took no notice of the scene, or chose to ignore it and made his way towards the battle arena.

Misty's triumph now turned to disgust as she began to comprehend what she had just done: make out with Rudy to get revenge on Ash? Repulsed, she prompted pushed herself off of the obviously now-aroused male without a word and made her way upstairs towards her room, albeit much slower than Ash had done. She wanted to take her time. However, after arriving at the door of Lily's room, she threw up her hands in repugnance. Groans, moans, and the sound of a strained mattress released themselves through the closed off room and she shouted out distress.

"Everyone can fucking hear you fucking!!"

The sounds didn't cease after her outburst and she propelled herself to go faster to be able to reach her room, whereupon she thrust her body onto the sheets and attempted to go to sleep.

Rudy never came up to her room. In fact, Misty thought she could taste the scent of alcohol on his lips when she was kissing him. He was half-drunk tonight. No wonder his unnaturally slow response to her was such.

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The next day came too fast in Misty's opinion, but upon seeing the time on her bedside clock she was pleasantly surprised. It read 3:00 PM; she hadn't slept in that late in awhile. Perhaps she had willed herself to do so, since she repeatedly told her mind to not wake up, ever again.

She performed her normal rituals of bathing and getting herself ready for the day, although much slower. She didn't really want to see anyone, specifically Ash or Rudy. Luckily, her wish came true and she didn't have to see at least one of the two today.

"They all went out to watch some unofficial matches at the community center. Some sort of contest for the Indigo League games. That's why they aren't here," Daisy explained. "Rudy still sleeping?" she inquired, looking slightly perturbed, as if she somehow knew about last nights events (via Tracey through Brock through Ash, probably).

"Yea, I think he may have a hangover," stating the obvious.

"Hmm," she said in a more subtle tone. Misty frowned.

"I know."

Daisy smiled. Misty allowed herself, although a very delayed and hesitated response it was, to smile back at her sister. Daisy looked astonished by this, but readily accepted it. Taking some advice from Brock and her therapist was what made her do such a thing.

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"Really? Misty did _that_? I can't see her doing such a thing… with him. Thank god he didn't come with us today," said Tracey.

"Yea," Ash said, looking uncomfortable. He didn't want to talk about it, but his mood that morning had prompted the others to push him into talking about what had happened last night after Brock had mentioned it briefly while in the gym.

"And it didn't help that you," he said gesturing at Gary, "Would not stop what you were doing last night," Ash said bitterly, spurting out the most he had said that day.

"It's not like they were fucking… only making out…"

"It's the same thing in my book!" Ash's obstreperous voice had caused some people to turn around and glare at him; fortunately not recognizing who he was or else he would have been swamped for autographs.

"Lay off guys… we came here to watch the matches. Let's just try to enjoy them okay?" Brock said in almost of a fatherly-figure sort of way.

They all nodded their heads in agreement and proceeded to engross themselves in a day's worth of crappy battles.

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They all left before the matches had come to a conclusion. Not because all of the battles weren't worthwhile to watch, but because Ash was becoming more and more distant as the afternoon progressed into evening twilight. They all piled into the borrowed car that was Daisy's and drove home mostly in silence, with a sudden occurrence of conversation here and there. Ash really didn't know what to do. He just wanted to sleep. Or eat. For a very long time. The slam from the drivers' side door caused Ash to jolt out of his conflicting thoughts on whether to leave or not. He knew if he voiced it vocally, Brock and Tracey would criticize him for not staying and converse with Misty about his thoughts for her. The digital car clock read 9:00 PM. They headed inside, all worn from standing up for hours on the field, where the cold winds didn't help a bit either, all hoping for a quieter evening than the previous ones.

However, the scene that met them was, especially for Ash, rather different from what they had all been expecting.

The large entrance hallway to the Waterflower household was in disarray. Several objects that had beforehand decorated the house were now lying on the floor, shattered. The four sisters were standing in a semi-circle, with Daisy holding back Misty in the middle of it. All had tousled looking appearances; Misty's the worst of all. She was seething with rage. Her older sisters looked dismayed and Daisy was screaming obscenities at Rudy, who was in the center of it all. They seemed to take no notice of the boys who had entered as the noise from they screeching sisters was too loud for them to hear anything or anyone else. They were all talking at once, so the state of confusion worsened. Ash's attentions went straight to Misty, whose clothing was slightly torn and hair falling out of its trademark ponytail. He noticed a small swelling underneath her hollow, left cheekbone. He panicked, and was about to make a move towards her when Rudy's thunderous voice erupted throughout the hall, causing the uproar to end, temporarily.

"You are a stupid bitch Daisy! I had every right to do that to her, she was leading me on for all that time… you little whore! I loved you when nobody else did!!" He said, pointing a violently shaking finger at Misty.

He glared at the two sisters, fists clenched, knuckles laced with blood. A hole in the wall to everyone's left provided further confirmation that he had attempted to hit Misty, but missed and punched the wall instead.

"You're a fucking IDIOT Rudy! She should have never, EVER been with you! You treated her like SHIT and she can't take it anymore!" Daisy screamed at him, face red and tears streaming down her face.

"She deserves it!" He shot back at her. Misty recoiled in internal pain and Daisy placed the girl behind her back as her other sisters both starting screeching at him again. The chaos continued and the 4 boys made their moves. Brock, Tracey, and Gary went over towards Rudy and held him back as he charged back at Misty again.

"I'll kill you, you selfish bitch!"

Misty looked up at him, aquamarine eyes looking otherworldly and her face contorted in both physical and mental pain. She spoke softly, despite her haggard appearance.

"You… NEVER… loved me… how _dare_… you say… something like that… and I… NEVER… loved you."

Rudy's composure snapped after hearing this from her. Still being held down by the three guys just about the same stature as him, Rudy had no chance now. Brock led him towards the door, but not without a fight. He attempted to punch anyone of the 3 that he could get his hands on. Spurts of blood splattered on to the floor and angry grunts of people kicking and punching whatever they could get it. A few shrieks from the sisters were voiced shrilly as they finally were able to force him out the door. Before he let himself be escorted outside, he turned around and saw that Ash had replaced Daisy as the caretaker of Misty, and had loosely draped his hand over her shoulder, while she seemed to take no notice of him whatsoever. Instead, her eyes were focused on Rudy. She was shuddering unnaturally hard, like someone who had been out in the cold too long.

Rudy smiled a maniacal smile and laughed when he saw Ash next to Misty.

"I guess… it wasn't meant to be…"

And he released himself from their grips, walking casually out the front door, and left, which caused perplexed faces all around.

At about this time, Misty seemed to come back to her senses and realized that Ash had his arms around her, stabilizing her as she probably could not support her own body. Ash thought that she was doing okay now that Rudy had left, but after looking up at him were severely burning features she rapidly released herself from his tight grasp, threw up her hands and screamed at him as she walked away:

"Don't… TOUCH me Ash!!"

(A/N): And of course to be continued. I plan to write 10 chapters, so 2 left to go kiddos!

And now you've seen Gary's point in the story as well as May's. Hah. No Pokemon in this really either… I'm sorry but incorporating Pikachu and Togepi (if it's still there) would be way too annoying.

I attempted to throw in bits of comic relief… I doubt it worked though!

And hopefully the fight scene wasn't too… stupid? Or too cliché… I haven't read other Misty/Rudy/Ash triangle fics in awhile.

I'd also like to say, thank you so much for the comments and feedback! Now, to answer some of your comments…

May and Dawn are the best: Yes, I will be including May at the end, so don't worry! Even though I despise her she'll get a good ending.

Milotic: I am trying to keep them in character as best as I can and I guess they do seem a little OoC because they are older. I didn't want to include Max because the few times I have watched the new episodes, I hated both him and May. I am such a diehard Sakashipper and have been for a long time. Also, I had no idea that Gary left again, I do not watch the show as consistently as I did about 6/7 years ago! The May twist is explained here, let me know what you think ;)

Dramione101: Hopefully you liked my version of Misty's past!

L' Fleur Noir: I'm sorry Misty is annoying! It will get better on her part, at the end they will reconcile with each other.

TwinkieTUTUS: Thank you! My biggest pet peeve is chapters with short chapters…

pancakes ninja: They will talk to each other! I just have to make it angst-y and annoying… don't worry!

Also, if you find some spelling errors or things that don't make sense please let me know. I hate making inconsistencies!

It's gonna get a LOT more angst-er from here… and darker. So… yea.


	9. Birthday

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 17  18

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

Chapter 9 – Birthday

The seven persons inhibiting the small, damaged space of the hallway were clearly stunned. It took a few minutes for the silence to register, since there had been clamoring for such a long while. The echoing had finally stopped, and everyone began to look around at each other, except Ash. His stare was aimed at the passage way that led to the staircase, looking melancholy and defeated. He had been able to touch her for only a few moments; to comfort her, even though she hadn't really noticed it until she regained her thought process. Daisy, on the other hand, had completely lost it, and had collapsed down onto the cold hardwood floor and was sobbing hysterically. Violet and Lily both appeared to be pretty shaken up as well, but not quite as much as their older sister and were attempting to soothe her by rubbing her back and supporting her rocking and very unbalanced body. The guys, knowing that the girls were there to comfort each other, began to disperse themselves in order to find the appropriate materials to clean up the shattered substances that had amassed themselves, via the fight, onto the ground.

Slowly Daisy began to regain self-control, and was led unsteadily to the family room by her sisters onto the couch. The boys soon followed suit, after making sure everything amiss had been put back into its respective place, or had deemed it unsalvageable and tossed it. The boys' mind were obviously going a mile a minute, wanting get the information as to what exactly had happened during their absence, but they refrained for the moment, knowing that the sisters all looked very uneasy and were shifting their glances considerably. So they didn't, at least, until Ash unceremoniously burst out into a bunch of incoherent sentences that nearly had Daisy lapsing into another sob session. Brock grabbed Ash, who had exploded out of his seat onto the floor, and pulled him back onto the leathery settee. Violet held up her hands to halt the inappropriate hubbub.

"Can't you wait?" she said, obviously very upset. "We're a little bit _busy_ here!"

"No… no… they should know… Ash should know…" Daisy said suddenly while suppressing the traces of hiccups in her slowed speech. She took a deep breath to even out her uneven breathing, but it was ineffective.

"Oh god… this is so awful… why didn't we do anything earlier?!?"

She collapsed back into a heap on the couch, which at this point, Tracey had in one swift moment gotten up and sandwiched himself between her and Vi.

Daisy looked up at her sisters with a wild look on her face.

"This is all _your_ fault, you know that?!" she said shrilly, pointing a finger at both of them, who looked aghast.

"Like, _what_ _are_ you talking about?"

"You both provoked her all the time and now look what she has come to! If it weren't for _your_ attitude towards her, she would have made a better decision than this!! You don't even seem that upset over this!!"

"You acted that way to her too! You can't take that back! Like, don't lie Daisy!"

"But at least I like, tried to make peace with her! You did nothing! You still act so damn superior over her!"

"Like, Daisy…"

"Stop it you guys! This is not the time to make accusations as to why whatever it was that happened to Misty tonight, that's what group therapy is for!" Tracey said loudly.

"Group therapy?" the dazed girls said in unison.

"Yes damnit!" said Tracey, creating another wave of astounded faces at the fact that a curse word had been uttered from the depths of his innocent mouth. He shrank back. "Just try to get to the heart of the matter, okay Daisy?" he said, more peacefully than before.

She nodded, still hiccupping slightly.

"Well… we don't know everything that happened… but… we heard them screaming at each other down here, so we went to listen in on their conversation at my suggesting, just in case something happened…"

"Which did," Lily interjected.

"They only part which we did hear… was how he thought that Misty had been leading him on the whole time they had been together… he was so angry at her for stringing him along the whole time…"

"What do you mean, exactly?" Ash said, confused.

Daisy looked up at him with blood shot eyes. A brief thought occurred to him that she would probably flip out if she knew how bad she looked.

"Well… we knew what happened last night with her and Rudy… you know… Brock told us."

"I figured as much," he said bitterly.

"Well… apparently _that_ was leading him on… you know… as in she wanted to have sex with him now that she had finally shoved her tongue down his throat with him in front of you…"

"At first he didn't think it was to make you jealous… and then he realized that maybe that was what she had been doing all along. Waiting for the right opportunity…"

Ash looked dumbfounded. She was trying to make him jealous?

"He was pretty badly hung-over from the night before… apparently he's a drinker… she never told us."

"He was drunk tonight too… he had a bottle clenched in his free fist. He sure reeked of it," Violet stated with her nose upturned.

"Anyway… we saw him attempt to throw a punch at her after he labeled her a whore for doing something like this to him. It missed but he swung again after she tried to duck and he hit her as she turned to face him. Upper cheekbone. You saw it, I'm sure…" Daisy sniffed.

"At that point, we ran from the top of the staircase and downstairs. He had her by the shirt and tore it as she tried to kick him in the groin… we pulled her away and he went crazy. He smashed the bottle to the floor; then the shards flew up at us and slashed our skin… mostly hers though… she was in front…" Daisy sobbed again, blaming herself. "Oh why didn't I put her behind me?!"

"It was such a fast paced fight… you didn't know…" Tracey said solemnly.

She didn't respond to his statement, but she did trudge on with the story.

"He began to break everything in sight, which explains the mess, and somehow got a hold on her again. He squeezed her arms so tightly, I swear, I thought he was going to crush them…"

"He started calling her a slut and how much he loved her and blah blah blah… that bastard… I want to press charges against him…"

"I'm sure the alcohol played a big part into it, he never acted this badly before…" Lily said.

Daisy glared at her.

"Shut up, you idiot. You know it was mostly him. Anyway, that's about the time when you guys showed up… we somehow got her back with us and pushed him out of the way. Thank goodness you did come; I doubt we could have held him off."

"Someone needs to go check on her. She's got injuries. That's not good." Tracey said after a moment of silence.

They all looked at each other, as if attempting to gather up the courage to check on a very frenzied, very upset Misty. Daisy pushed herself up and removed Tracey's hand from her shoulder to her own hand and led him up.

"I'll go. Tracey… she'll need ice. And bandages. Could you help me please sweetie?" she said softly.

He nodded and followed her into the kitchen, trying to not make too much noise while gathering the items they thought necessary. As the walked back into the family room, Tracey took his place again on the couch and watched as Daisy made her way slowly and silently up the dark stairwell. Nobody else really knew what to do with themselves, so after a failed attempt of talking and watching television, Ash finally made his way upstairs and eventually the others, one by one, followed his example.

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September passed into October more quickly than expected, however the following week went by extremely slowly. Gym battle calls were made much more frequently than the previous week (probably due to the highly publicized media coverage of the semi-finals for the Indigo Championship). Since Misty was physically and mentally incapable of battling, the sisters had to take over the duty for her, which most of the time fell upon Violet since Daisy was taking care of her little sister and Lily refused to take the chance of water ruining her newest hair-do. This wasn't exactly the best idea. When Misty found out that Vi had been taking the calls instead of declining and asking the trainers to return at a later date, she nearly exploded with anger, stating the Vi had ruined what she had built up over the past three years. From then on, all battles were stopped in effort to please Misty.

All this was done from the self-imposed confinement of her room, since she rarely exited during the first few days after the fight. Misty's therapist had been called in to come and see her in the privacy of their home, since she was refusing to go outside. The visit must have done some good, since she journeyed from the solace of her room to the downstairs after spending a long while with her. Although Misty was quite jumpy and flinched upon any kind of contact, she appeared to be finally letting go of some the anger and unhappiness she had been feeling and flinging at those around her. Of course she still had some reservations with their fastidious behavior towards her during this time, but she saw how her family and friends were acting towards her and how worried they seemed. She even rewarded Ash with an insecure smile here and there, which he savored greatly. Her acrid bruises and cuts were beginning to mend just after a few days but he found that even with the lacerations, she would always be beautiful to him. Her eyes were returning to their previous hue of aquamarine and her carrot top hair seemed, if possible, even more of an intense color of orange.

Daisy, Violet, and Lily knew that Misty would have qualms about what they were planning for her birthday, since most surprises used to include some sort of devious joke, so they opted to keep their plans secret, which proved to be quite difficult. Reservations were made at a classy and costly restaurant that was one of Misty's favorites and they hadn't eaten there in a long time. The afternoon before the event, the sister's eagerly cornered Misty (which probably wasn't the best idea), grabbed her hand and pulled her down into an empty chair, not telling her exactly why they were doing so. Each sister took a different approach either by hair, face, or clothing and went to work on the jolted girl. She protested at first, but their voices chorused together as one and obliged her to sit still. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, their girls deemed Misty acceptable and ready.

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Ash fingered and fumbled with his messy, spiky hair and muttered sharply each time his digits came into contact with an unmanageable tangled mass.

Tracey shook his head and half-laughed, half-questioned: "Why don't you use both shampoo and conditioner? Then maybe you won't have to go through this routine all the time."

Ash, who was too preoccupied with his hair failed to say something in reply, simply glared at him and proceeded to fidget in the unfamiliar and unpronounceable fabric that was his suit, as did the rest of the boys. None were used to wearing such nice clothes, but it had been suggested and then hastily enforced by Daisy upon seeing their initial reactions of displeasure. And so they did, to an extent. Ash tried to think about what Misty's reaction would be instead of how silly he felt. The occasions in which they had been formally attired were few, but he had always secretly liked how she looked since it was much rarer for her to show off her feminine side. Maiden's Peak was a day that was engrained into his mind; a day that really put things into perspective for him and showed him that she wasn't just some crazy, hormonal girl, but could be sweet when she really wanted to.

"Like, we're ready boys!"

They stood up, smoothing out the creases in their pants and turned their heads in attention towards the stairs, jaws dropping at the sight. Violet and Lily entered first, elbows linked together and palms placed over their mouths as they giggled ceaselessly. Violet wore a brown colored halter-top style dress that reached just below the knees and had switched from her normally red beaded hairpiece to a brown one to match with her outfit. Lily's dress matched her pale blue eyes and was strapless and stopped at the upper thigh. She clutched a small pink clutch to her waist with her free hand and smiled seductively at Gary, who wriggled his eyebrows in response. Daisy appeared next, clothed in a sapphire spaghetti strap dress with a small slit on the left leg and had replaced the old flower in her hair with a fresh one. Each girl ambled to their respective partner, whereupon their arms found around each other's waists. When a few moments had passed and still no Misty had appeared, Lily called up to her, exasperated.

"Misty, like hurry up! This is _your_ surprise you know."

Soft, cautious footsteps were heard on the stairs and Misty's head; then body appeared gradually, as she was obviously very apprehensive about going out in the first place. Ash's mouth formed a large 'o' and he stared at her in awe. She looked away, blushing furiously in a combination of embarrassment and displeasure. Her spiky yet wavy hair that was normally pulled into a low ponytail had been liberated and cascaded freely down her back, finishing in a curl at the tips. Her dress resembled that of a thick tank top with a skirt attached without seams and reached down to her knees. The color matched her eyes perfectly, a serene aquamarine. The only visible make up on her face that he could detect was a little dark blue mascara and some tinted lip gloss, not that she needed it really.

Misty glanced over at her sisters who were making gestures as to hurry her self up, so she rolled her eyes in reply and made her way past the group towards the unlocked front door and walked outside.

As luck would have it, it began to sprinkle about three-quarters of the way to the car. Although the weather at this time of year was normally dry the dampness from the rain began to make the air become humid and thick. Piercing shrieks emanated from the older girls as they tried to cover their heads with either their respective boys' arm or their insufficient, small purses as they made a mad dash to cover themselves underneath the small awning above the front door.

Misty, however, ventured back inside from her spot on the drenched concrete path and muttered: "I get tired of the heart attacks every time it rains."

The little tension-free moments they all had experienced before in the foyer were now broken as it seemed Misty's habitual temper had returned upon witnessing her sisters predictable and unchanged behaviors. After her clearly irritated return they all piled silently into the car after she thrust an oversized umbrella at Lily's stomach, ignoring the shrill complaints she voiced noisily.

The arrival to the eatery came soon enough and all were led towards the back of the restaurant by a very chatty waitress, whom didn't seem to be conscious of the troubled silence the group answered in response to her babblings. Their meals were ordered one by one and during the long time it took for the food to arrive they all began to make small talk amongst one another, with the exception of Misty. She seemed to have lapsed back into her own world and Ash could tell that she was quite uneasy in the populated bistro. Her eyes were focused on her lap and a few times he noted that they removed themselves from that interesting spot on the napkin to drat anxiously around the restaurant. Not a word was spoken from her mouth but she quietly observed the situations around her with an uncanny attitude. She looked trapped, as she had been squished into the middle seat; placed next to Ash and Brock. She poked at her food upon its arrival and as Ash was about to question her silence but she stood up quickly and made her way towards the exit, muttering a quick "excuse me" as she did so. Nobody really seemed to think much of it since they were lost in ecstasy of their scrumptious meals, but Ash made a mental note of the time of her leave of absence, just in case.

She traipsed her way to the exit and directed her legs to go towards the back of the detached building, not really knowing what she was doing or why she was beginning to cry. The rain had advanced into a misty haze and she wrapped her scrawny arms around herself for spurious comfort and warmth. She tried to collect her thoughts. This was supposed to be for her and she had simply decided not to immerse herself in any of their conversations. She felt angry again for some reason and very uncomfortable, as if something bad was going to happen, which was the reason she didn't want this stupid party in the first place. The few good things in her life always had some kind of ruined and bad ending. She associated happiness with skepticism and as something that was surely not to last. She didn't even understand why she had tried to appear happier after the Rudy incident; she had even smiled at Ash! She was leading everyone on to stop their fussing over her; she hated it. It meant nothing because it would not last. They, especially Ash, were only doing this sort of thing out of pity. The moment she returned to her usual, cynical self, at least in her eyes, they would all return to treating her as they had before.

She shuddered as the cold air became damper and moister. The hair on her body stood up rigidly due to the raised goose-flesh covering her skin. She sniffled quietly, wiping her nose with her palm and turned around to make her way back inside the lukewarm building. But something blocked her way. Or rather, someone. She looked up and gasped to scream but his hand got to her opened mouth first. With his free hand he twisted her body around and slammed her back into the coarse brick masonry, and she felt her legs and arms twitch from their uneven harshness. She chanced a glance upwards into his eyes and shrank back slightly. He was seething.

"Well well well, I didn't think you'd be _stupid_ enough as to wander into a back alley all alone. Did you think I _wouldn't_ come back for you? Tsk tsk."

He moved his hand from her mouth, as to let her reply in some clever way, and put the hand on her other arm, roughly forcing himself onto her frigid, tense body. She countered by attempting to knee him in the groin, a classic move, but he was quick to take action. He had learned from their previous encounter. He merely smiled maliciously at her as she glared back up at him, still refusing to talk.

"You know, you made me look and feel humiliated by playing your little game jealousy game. Now, how can I make _you_ feel the same way darling?" He looked hard at her with fixated eyes.

She looked away angrily, towards the door she had exited out of, silently hoping that someone would emerge suddenly as to see where she had gone off to and why she was taking so long. What false hope. He laughed in a hushed audacity.

"I'll give you a clue," he whispered into her ear. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and her skin crawled in the spot where his breath had penetrated. He hunched his back slightly, and brought his face extremely close to hers. She felt his breath on her face and it smelled like craving. She recoiled but he followed suit with her action and kissed her ruthlessly on her dry lips, forcing her firmly shut mouth open with his yearning tongue as he gained access to her mouth. She was frozen on the spot, whether it was from fear or his doing she could not decipher. Her brain screamed out responses to the rest of her body but the signals were not reaching their destinations; and she simply went limp as he began to explore her body, whimpering "Rudy, stop…" inaudibly as he continued on.

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Ash glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes had passed and he began to worry. No woman took that long in a bathroom, even if she was on her period. He stood up and excused himself working his way to the direction in which Misty had taken. He saw instead of a women's lavatory symbol a neon red exit sign, fizzling and buzzing as if it was about to burn out. He wondered why she was outside by herself and went to investigate. The sight shocked him; and he felt as if he needed to throw out. The display in front of him reminded him of about a week prior when he discovered Misty and Rudy in their little make-out session. But this looked different. Even in the dim light, there was pain clearly illustrated on her screwed up face. He saw the man drive his free left hand up her thigh and exposing her underwear, attempting to pull it down. He felt sick again, but instead of running to the bathroom he ran outside to address the situation and help Misty. The door burst open and both the perpetrator and the victim looked up in shock. Ash saw that Rudy's hand was clearly shoved into the small of her undergarment and she was wrestling with a free hand to pull his unbuckled pants back up.

"Ash!!"

"Get your filthy hands off her you bastard," Ash said, fists clenched so hard they were already white.

"Ash my boy! You're here just in time to watch me discipline Misty for all the games she been playing with our heads," he guffawed perniciously.

Ash shook his head in a disgusted manner and charged at him. He heard a rip of clothing as Rudy's hand was torn from where it had previously been. Misty began to scream for help as she began to kick ferociously at the pinned down older boy. Ash stood back up about the same time Rudy did and punched him squarely in the nose. Not entirely blinded by pain, he somehow grabbed a hold of a still kicking Misty, tripping her and she fell hard on her back onto the pavement. Ash, disregarding Rudy's favorable position of standing, sprinted to help her back up but was knocked to the ground by Rudy, shouting as his head came into contact with the solid asphalt.

Rudy then proceeded to position himself on top of Misty, who was still struggling to get up after her own fall. Pinning her down, and began to start again what had not been finished. She screamed and lashed her arms forcefully towards his chest, throwing her head back as he tried to find her lips once again and to keep her mouth shut. As she attempted to move her head in the direction that Ash had fallen, she realized he was unconscious. A shot of adrenaline ran through her body at the sight of seeing him hurt. A brief sort of visualization materialized in her mind in which she saw the day that Ash had been knocked out during their adventure at Shamouti Island, and how terrified she had been at the possibility of him being dead. Rudy seemed to have taken notice of her abrupt change of viewpoint and turned around to see what she was so engrossed with. Before he could even turn to see Ash, he felt Misty's fist come into contact with his jaw. He recoiled in pain as she punched him squarely in the face again. He stumbled backwards, connecting with the pavement and rubbed his jaw while straining to look up at her. When he did, he almost felt uneasy at seeing that feisty look in her eyes returning; the same feistiness he had seen the first day he met her. He smiled in an out of place style, almost deliriously and felt himself take an uncomfortable hit in the groin and he finally collapsed into a fetal position, holding what he held dearly.

"Mist…"

Misty's head shot up at that voice and her labored breaths caught in her throat as looked over to see Ash recovering from the malicious blow. Ignoring that fact that their situation wasn't entirely safe she impulsively acted upon her feelings of apprehension and hastily sprinted to his side. Still in a panic mode, she tightly wrapped his hand in hers, forcing him up, while he verbalized his pain into a few choice words.

Luckily, people had begun to rush to the outside of the restaurant to find out about the commotion and piercing pleas for help. Coming to a conclusion to the scene in front of them, a few older men grabbed Rudy by the neckline of his shirt and yanked him up; two men appeared to be police officers, eventually grabbed his hands and placing them behind his back and he yelled both hoarsely and deliriously: "She's my girlfriend! There is nothing wrong with what was going on!!"

The rest of their group appeared outside frantically and tried to go to their injured younger sister, but the police officers who had taken Rudy into custody were back, and asking if the girls were in fact relations and if so, needed to come with them. The six left the scene and Brock glanced back at Ash, who nodded in response.

He suddenly came to the realization that there was another source of heat coming from his already sweaty hand. He smiled gently and glanced over at her. Her eyes were boring into something unknown straight ahead, her lips firmly pressed together in a thin line. Not often it had been that he had seen her cry and he guessed tonight had to be an exception. Hesitating slightly, he slowly released his hand from hers and brought it around her shoulders. He felt her flinch for a moment and he stood very still, letting her know that he acknowledged her feelings of nervousness. Suddenly she flung herself at him, grabbing fistfuls of his suit jacket into her scrunched up fists. He relaxed into her closely, kicking himself for not coming sooner and for this kind of contact had he wanted for so long to be in such a heartbreaking situation. He clutched her closer, resting his chin on the top of her head, after planting a small, chaste kiss atop her carrot hair. He swore he felt her smile amidst the tears running down her face.

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I rewrote the ending of the chapter since someone commented it made Misty look weak. Hopefully I made Misty seem like she was finally coming back into her old self! This chapter took a lot longer than I had expected, partially due to final exams and partially due to writers block. I didn't think it would be so hard to put down on here! Also, I sneaked a little song excerpt into this chapter, if anyone gets it, major kudos to you! I'll give you a hint, Misty said it.

Only one more chapter to go guys! I hope you enjoy this one! I finally let Misty relax into Ash, happy now? There _will _be AAML fluff in the last chappie, so don't worry!


	10. Together

Ash/Gary: 18

Misty: 18

Brock/Tracey/Rudy: 21

Daisy/Violet/Lily: 22

Chapter 10 – Together

There were sights and sounds to be seen and heard but Ash was oblivious to it all. His head was spinning, a tangled mass of information that couldn't seem to form into coherent sense. He felt confused, but he didn't care. The one thing he could make out from the jumbled heap that was his brain was that Misty was alright. Well, maybe not alright, but sitting next to him as he stood, torso reclined in a stretcher provided by the various EMTs that had arrived a few minutes earlier. She laid there, her eyelids fluttering as proof that she was still awake despite her palpable fatigue. A paramedic, who was still hovering around Ash, had asked him to make sure she didn't fall asleep whilst he prepped her for the ride (muttering something about not believing Ash to be capable of keeping an eye on her). He took her hand in his and squeezed it and he felt her squeeze back just as hard, a reassurance in his eyes. Misty was tough and she was going to be fine. She _had_ to be fine.

All too soon he realized he was being separated from Misty and he reached out to seize her arm when a woman's voice knocked him back to the situation.

"Sir, she's in good hands. She needs to be taken to the Cerulean Hospital right away."

"But, can't I ride with her?"

"Do you have any relation to her?"

"Well no, but, we traveled together for years!"

The EMT smirked. "Sorry, but that doesn't count as a relation. A relative or significant other would have been acceptable. Besides, her oldest sister is going to be accompanying her and I need to get you checked over since _you_ decided that all the medics should attend to her first."

"I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I don't matter," He paused for a second, and then mumbled to himself:

"I'm as _good_ as her significant other."

The medic simply rolled her eyes and began look over him as he turned his sight to the now fading ambulance.

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Ash squirmed slightly as the nurse held an icepack to his head. He hadn't taken in the fact that the right side of his head had been bleeding rather copiously since he was too engrossed in the situation of Misty verses Rudy verses himself. He looked up at the clock. About an hour had passed since he had last seen Misty. He had no idea where she had been taken to in this hospital, nor had anyone he knew come by his room to check up on him. The door opened and a middle aged woman stepped inside. He correctly presumed that it was the doctor.

"Mr. Ketchum? Quite a night you've had. Did you not realize that you had been knocked unconscious?"

Ash fidgeted, eliciting another exasperated sigh from the nurse.

"N-no. I wasn't thinking about it."

The doctor's face turned stern. "You've suffered a mild concussion. I was told you felt some confusion earlier? You're lucky this was only a Grade I concussion! You have numerous cuts and abrasions on your scalp not to mention of few contusions! Speaking of which…"

She then nodded over to the nurse. Ash was about to ask what contusions meant in plain terms when the nurse promptly began to numb his head with a needle. Ash yelped and his reflexes had him groping his hand around but it was rapidly slapped away by the irritated nurse. After he had calmed down a little, he heard the doctor scribbling away and asked about Misty.

"Um, do you happen to know where a 'Misty Waterflower' was taken to earlier?"

The doctor looked up.

"The redheaded girl?" The doctor gave a small snort. Ash winced as he saw a needle and thread dangle from his scalp. "She looked fine if you ask me. Gave those medics a hard time, repeatedly telling them she was fine once they started to insert that IV into her arm even though she went unconscious for a good five minutes during the trip to here. Her sister could barely calm her down! But yes, I do know where she is. Fourth floor. They ordered an entire physical on her considering her circumstances tonight."

Ash looked up.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your friend was put in a compromising situation tonight. They're making absolutely sure that nothing _happened _to her. Get my drift?"

Ash swallowed dryly, understanding completely but not wanting to understand.

"But, I was there, I didn't see… I didn't see…"

"They always have to make sure. I was told that you weren't at the scene the whole time. I'm sorry you have to hear this from me."

"Done," chirped the nurse as she clipped off excess threads from Ash's stitches.

Ash patted his head slightly before looking back up at the doctor.

"Can I go now?"

"Yes, but before you leave please set up a post-op appointment to see me in about a week or so. And make sure you ice your head every 2 to 4 hours for about 20 minutes within the first 24 hours. That's all. Got it?"

Ash nodded and as soon as she opened the door he sprinting off towards the elevator, ice pack in one hand and clenched fist in the other.

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Daisy watched from the far corner of the room as the two nurses sutured up some lacerations on Misty's head, cheek, and arms. She shuddered and looked away, not able to stomach the sight of the needle entering her sisters flesh. She brought her hands to her face and brought them up towards her hairline, sighing deeply as she did so. A hand on her shoulder reminded her that Tracey had returned from his phone call to Brock who was down at the police station with Violet, Gary, and Lily. She looked up at him.

"So?"

Tracey sighed and in a hushed tone said: "He's locked up for now but since Brock and the others don't know if he—" He paused slightly; "If he raped her… so they'll probably release him and hold some kind of trial. I'm not sure yet. They'll have to talk to Misty when she's ready to talk since she is the only one who knows what did happen."

At this point they looked up to see Misty awake and wide eyed, seemingly unaware of all the work that was currently being done on her. The right arm inserted with an IV lay limp in defeat and she seemed to have not heard anything they had just said.

Suddenly they heard a squeaking of sneakers following by a shrill slide on the linoleum floor. They stood up immediately, ran towards the half curtained window and saw a panting Ash being restrained by a nurse outside the door.

"I need to get in—can you just let me in?!"

"Sir, you can't just go barging into other peoples' rooms like this!"

"But I know her! We traveled!"

"Are you related?"

No but—"

"Well then you have to stay out here. Visiting hours are currently for relations only. Ash looked through the window to see a bewildered Tracey and Daisy. A thought occurred to him.

"But, he isn't related to her! How come he's in there too?" Ash said, pointing wildly at Tracey.

"I was informed that he would soon be joining her family—"

"WHAT?!"

"That's just what I was told," stated the bemused nurse.

"Ash?"

He turned to look at whose the voice belonged to.

"Yea?"

"We can talk out here," stated Daisy quietly. Although it had only been a few hours she looked as though she had not slept in days.

They dragged Ash over towards a waiting bench opposite of the window to Misty's room. Immediately he burst like a dam with unanswered questions

"Is Misty okay? Where is everyone? Why didn't anyone come to look for me? And are you two getting married?!"

"Ash, calm down. Misty is doing alright. They're stitching her wounds closed and they just finished her physical a few minutes ago. I was asked to step out and I made a phone call to Brock and the others. They're at the police station answering questions to the best of their ability. They're probably going to need you later on as well as Misty," Tracey said.

"I'm sorry we didn't come looking for you. I wanted to stay with Misty and Tracey had to keep switching from talking to me to the others. And no, we are not getting married. We just used that line so Tracey could come in with me," Daisy said, blushing slightly at the end. Her face quickly turned somber again. Ash had to get used to that face; it wasn't the norm with her at all.

"Like, they want to keep her here for the night. The results will be in tomorrow morning so… its best if you all just go home and get some rest. I'll be here with her so, don't worry," she finished while mustering up the best smile she could manage.

Ash opened his mouth to argue but she silenced him with her held up hand and a troubled look.

"Ash, I need to stay with her. I want to stay with her and talk with her. I think I need to… prove myself to her and I want it to get through that I do—" She stifled a sob. When Tracey tried to comfort her, she shifted uncomfortably, her shoulders hitching forward. It was as though all the weight of her guilt was _finally_ being felt on her shoulders. She looked up and Ash and smiled and nodded towards Tracey.

"Besides, you need to go to the station now. I'll see you in the morning."

And with that, she turned to leave, letting the door shut lightly behind her. Ash felt Tracey physically taking his arm to steer him away from Misty's room.

"She'll be alright. Come on, I'll drive."

Ash chanced a glance back at the window, hoping to catch Misty's eyes. His heart panged as she suddenly looked up, as though she knew he was watching her. Her face, however, remained unnaturally blank. He grinned and raised his hand in a half-wave, but she turned away, listening to something Daisy had just said. He lowered his hand and trudged down the hall, lost in the optimistic thought that he would be seeing her soon.

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Ash was very wrong. The next day he barely caught a glimpse of her. She had been speedily taken to the police station after the hospital had cleared her satisfactory. Her results came back negative, just as Ash had thought, but obviously there was other damage done. He and Misty both took turns separately speaking with investigators about the previous nights' events and what was to be done about it.

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Misty collapsed onto her bed, heart racing and sweat droplets forming on her pale forehead. The anxiety attacks had been coming on more frequent in the past month, and she unfortunately knew what to expect. She braced herself for the mental anguish. She grasped her chest with one hand and her head in the other, trying to stop the thoughts she knew that were coming to engulf her mind. They were images from her past, coming on slow at first, but then increasing in speed and predictability. She coiled up into a ball as each picture flashed clearly in her mind: remembering her parents' attitudes towards her even at the age of 3; her sisters' taunting and upsetting words of worthlessness; her nasty attitude towards her newly made 'friends'; their reaction towards her irrationality; the day she was forced to leave; the day she made her biggest mistake to date; and all the events that had happened so recently. Everything that had happened was her fault. Suddenly her stomach was in her mouth and she raced towards the toilet, her legs nearly giving out on her from their prickling numbness. She retched, her body violently hitching forwards, bringing her nose into contact with the foul smelling contents, which made the burn in her throat worsen. Finally it was over. She slumped down onto the cold, tiled floor, hands cradling her head. The visible evidence was in the toilet but her poison was still sealed inside. She needed a release. She hadn't had one in awhile.

She cocked her head slowly to listen around and heard the front door shut loudly, the voices carrying out into the evening. Slowly, she stood up and clumsily fumbled around the porcelain vanity for the object she was looking for.

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Ash continued to channel-surf as the rest of the gang left to celebrate the guys' last night staying with the Waterflowers. He wasn't really aware of their departure as he held up a hand in a silent 'bye' because the program on television he managed to find was too engrossing. The Indigo League Championships were finally here and he couldn't wait to see who was going to win. The commentators announced the competitors, an older looking girl from Celadon and a young boy from a small town in Johto. Scooting forward a few inches so that he was sitting on the very end of the couch, he clasped his hands together as he watched the boy call out a Nidoking, and the girl soon retaliated with an evolved version of Eevee, a Vaporeon. The water Pokemon jolted Ash's thoughts instantaneously towards Misty. He had declined going out with the rest of the group purely because he wanted to be within some range of Misty, even though it currently was relatively far away as she had not left her room in some time. As he glimpsed up at the ceiling he heard a sharp clanking directly above him that sounded like some sort of metal and then the rushing, surging sound of water from the bathtub faucet. Taking a chance he decided to check up on Misty and see if everything was okay.

Her bedroom door was unlocked and open about half way but he could see her bathroom door was shut. The water had been turned off and all was very silent. He tip-toed over and knocked silently, once, then twice when he did not hear her answer.

"Mist?"

He heard a sudden intake of breath.

"Damn it," she whispered quietly, inhaling quickly as she dropped the scissors onto the thick rug.

"What do you want?" she said, possibly a little too rushed. To the best she could she began to noiselessly move around and clean up the mess she had made with a towel and began to press bits of toilet paper to the wounds.

"All you alright? I heard something fall and I just wanted to make sure you were okay—"

Frustrated with the drying blood that littered the floor in caked globules she called out: "I'm fine, alright? I just dropped something. No need to freak out here."

"I'm freaking out? I just came up to see how you were doing!" He didn't realize his temper was rising right away since it was all too familiar.

"Nothing's the matter Ash, okay?! Stop trying to play the hero all the time and get out of my room!"

When she didn't hear him leave she unexpectedly found herself moving around the bathroom in an erratic manner, feeling flustered and restless. Not paying enough consideration to the spilled water that dotted the floor, she lost her footing and slipped, yelling as she went. She flushed at her stupidity and moved quickly to get herself back up as soon as she heard him fumbling around with the lock to get it open. She heard the lock 'ping' and the door hurtled open to reveal a stricken-faced Ash as he took in the surroundings of the bathroom. The ceramic floor and the fibrous towels that were thrown over the liquid pools were stained with blood as though it were a murder scene. The weapon a choice laid discarded on the floor, encrusted with her blood.

Ash looked at her in disbelief. She glared at him for a moment before finding his eyes on her upon her limp arms and then pulled them into her chest. He tore his eyes away from her, looking for a clean towel and give to her. As he moved, she moved with him, but in the opposite direction.

"Misty, you need… you need something for your arms. Here, take it!" He thrust the towel at her but she did not take it. Instead she turned away and brought a hand to cup her forehead.

Ash took a step towards her as to reason with her but instead slipped on the remaining water, and collided with Misty. In any other circumstances he might have liked the position he found himself in but instead he was now face to face and pressed against a terrified Misty. She was currently recovering quickly from the shock and began to shriek and pound on his chest violently.

"ASH! Get off me, NOW! Please, please just get off!" She said, screaming; she looked absolutely petrified.

Ash tumbled onto the cold floor and scrambled to get back onto his feet and assess the situation. She had removed herself from her previous arrangement on the floor and had curled up into a ball, sobbing softly whilst trying to disregard his penetrating stare of concern. The two remained in their respective positions for a few more minutes or so, until finally Ash turned away from her. With this she looked up, pleading silently that he would not leave her here alone, thinking she was some kind of hopelessly mentally-ill girl. Without words he turned towards her medicine chest, scooped up packages of gauze and a bottle of peroxide. Wiping off her tear-stained face she turned to observe him, quite incredulously, as he crouched down next to her and gently reached for her stained forearms. She obliged, suddenly feeling very embarrassed and uncomfortable. His face was pensive; his lips pressed together and brow furrowed in concentration as he began to clean and bandage her self-inflicted wounds.

As he finished, he stood up to return the borrowed items back into the chest. He stood before her for another few moments. Finally, he turned around and Misty panicked and then whimpered, thinking he was going to go. How wrong she was.

Instead of walking out of the bathroom to forget the whole incident, he collapsed next to her and put his face into his hands, sobbing. Misty's eyes widened in alarm as she realized just what Ash was doing. He was crying. She was oblivious as to why he was and instantly flung her arms around him to make him stop. She hated when he used to cry; it broke her heart.

"Ash, why—why are you crying?! Please, please stop… I don't want to see you cry! I'm the one who should be crying!"

He glanced over at her, laughing disbelievingly.

"I'm crying for you Mist! For _you!_ I've been trying to reach you all this time I've been here, and the thought that my presence hasn't done anything to make you feel cared about at all kills me!"

He continued on, gesturing animatedly, as she sat, looking dumbfounded.

"Mist, I care about you _so_ damn much and it took your absence from our group for me to finally figure it out! You have every reason in the world to hate me for being so dim-witted and ignorant back then, but I came to Cerulean because I wanted to see _you_ and only you! I wanted to show you that I've changed and that I've matured! I wanted to prove to your skeptical face that I can come through for you! It's not all about winning and Pokémon and being the best anymore! It's about keeping a relationship going with a girl I should have never let leave me! I wanted to show you that, but all you did was push me away countless times. But I kept trying. Doesn't that show you that I'm _dedicated_ to our friendship and you? Please, Mist, _please_, just let me in! Let your sisters in, let us in! We want to help you and get you better; nothing is more terrifying then seeing your best friend slowly fading away!"

He turned away, mortified by how emotional he had become.

"_Please,_ just _talk_ to me Mist. I can help you, I told you I would awhile ago I would; I told you I could be your therapy. I just want to see you happy again, like you were before you left. You were finally _so_ happy when we were in Johto. I want that back so badly." He looked at her straight in the eye.

Shakily, he said: "I will _never_ leave you again, because if this is what's going to happen, I won't be able to handle going through it again. Do you understand me Mist?"

She nodded mutely while feeling so much guilt arise in her head. The things she thought of him; how cynical of him and the others she was when all this time she had been blinded by her pain and self-pity.

She began to speak slowly, carefully choosing her words.

"I'm so scared that if I get better, everyone will treat me the way they used to… humiliate me, hurt me, hate me… I can't go through that pain again Ash… and—I'm terrified it will happen… it's all I've ever known…"

He looked at her with a bemused expression, and then tenderly placed his hand on hers.

"Never Misty. I swear."

He knew from her expression that she was trying not to cry; her shimmering eyes gave it away once again. She looked down at the floor before speaking again.

"I want you to know now… that I never felt anything for Rudy. I hated him from the day we met him in Trovita. The way he patronized you was agonizing for me to watch. That's why I supported you at the match; I wanted to show you how much you meant to me. But after not hearing a word from you for two years, I was desperate to not feel so alone. I was disappointed and angry and not thinking clearly when I accepted his offer to go on a date. From then on, he controlled me and I couldn't get free. I wasn't leading him on at all… that part is a lie. He inferred this when I told him that I didn't want to see him anymore the day of the fight you came home to. He thought I was trying to make you jealous. I don't know what I was doing honestly… I just wanted to make you pay for something that wasn't entirely your fault and I hate myself so acting so impulsively and childish."

She fumbled with the gauze that he had wrapped around her wrists. He lightly swatted her fingers away from the material and spoke quietly.

"You really should go to the hospital to have these stitched up, you know. I'm no doctor," he said with a small smile.

She looked away.

"They'd commit me to an inpatient program. I have other priorities now."

"What is more important than making yourself better?"

She looked at him.

"I don't know Ash… I suppose you're right. But I need your support in this, are you willing to give it to me? I think only you will be able to do that for me, honestly."

He then grinned his trademark, lopsided grin.

"It's quite an honor to be picked as Misty's supporter!"

She smiled a tiny smile herself, much to the surprise and happiness of Ash. He placed himself in front of her, sitting cross-legged and began to outline his plan to her.

"Tomorrow we're going to have you go to your therapist. Have her tell you what to do about this, like medication and more intense therapy if needed. And all of us will be there for you if you want—and I want you to have group sessions with your sisters. I think Daisy is really willing to try it. You really should give her a chance; she is sincere in her actions in every way. Tracey has really turned her around, Mist. And I'm sure your other sisters will be just as supportive."

She bit down on her lip with her face tilted downwards as her half-hidden eyes looked towards him.

"Since when did you start becoming the one to boss people around, that's my job!"

He tried to give her a stern look and failed miserably. She blushed slightly.

"Okay… I can do this… for you."

"For _yourself_."

He was about to grin again when it spontaneously turned into a large and loud yawn. He checked her bathroom clock; it read 11 PM. He got up slowly and took her in his arms.

"I'm staying with you tonight whether you like it or not, okay?"

"If you snore I will kick you so hard Ash…"

They both laughed. Something they both loved about each other: their laughs.

She looked at him hesitantly and solemnly after it died down and the room became quiet again.

"I want you to. I've always wanted you to say that Ash. Always."

"And I want my stubborn and hot-headed Misty back," he said with a light laugh.

She punched his arm carelessly as they walked over towards her bed. Both flopping down unto their backs they undid the soft blue coverings and crept into its warmth. Misty looked tentative, remembering the last time she had shared it with a male.

Ash sensed her apprehension and drew his arms around her and felt her slowly but surely start to relax into them. With Ash's arms around her she felt a sense of security and completeness and was wholly content. When she felt her eyelids drop, she began to welcome the peaceful sleep that she had so longingly desired to have with this special boy. Just as she dozed into unconsciousness, she heard Ash's voice crack.

"Misty… I want you to know that it's taken me 8 years to figure this out… and 3 to be able to figure out how to say it right, but… I love you. Don't you ever leave me and I won't ever leave you."

She turned around to face his frightened features and looked into his chocolate-brown eyes and confidently whispered back: I love you too, Ash.

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Is this the end? **No!** I have decided to write an 11th chapter (and I'm SO sorry this took about 8 months to post since chapter 9). I got a message saying how much a reader liked my story and I got inspired to finish this chapter today. So, here's my gift to you all for being such faithful readers and reviewers!!

Chapter 11 will come when it comes… I'm preparing to take midterms soon and shall be busy until early May. Perhaps it will come then.

Once again, thank you so much! Spread the word of AAML! Read and review! Comment and critiques are welcome!

Tibblez and TwinkieTUTUS: you were correct! It's from Snow Patrol's Gleaming Action.

Dramonie101: thank you for the wonderful comments!

L'Fleur Noir: This one is more AAML 

Jade destiny: I re-wrote the last part of chapter 9 to try to make Misty seem stronger, please tell me what you think!

May and Dawn are the best: thank you!

Kalsar: thanks to your wonderful comment I finished chapter 10 today and have decided to work on an 11th chapter!


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